From the office of Congressman Geoff Davis (KY):

Since House Democrats released their health reform legislation (H.R. 3200), Members of Congress and Americans alike have been reviewing the 1018 pages of complex legalese to determine whether this bill is the right prescription for working families and small businesses.  Analysis has revealed a complicated web of new government bureaucracy and red tape that will dramatically impact health care coverage for every American. 

H.R. 3200 undeniably increases government involvement in American health care.  The bill creates over fifty new federal programs, agencies, and commissions that will expand the government’s role in health care decision-making by families and doctors.  See the list of new agencies and programs here.  Representative Kevin Brady (R-TX) and policy experts at the Joint Economic Committee developed a chart to illustrate the maze of new regulations and government involvement created by H.R. 3200.  You can view the chart by clicking here. 

Experts predict that the bureaucracy established by H.R. 3200 would inevitably force private insurers out of business, putting the U.S. on a path to a single-payer, government-run health care system.  When all the other choices are eliminated, there is no competition and federal government would have control over your health care.  The non-partisan Lewin Group projects that the government-run plan would result in as many as 114 million Americans losing their current health insurance coverage, including 106 million Americans who currently have employer-provided health care.

One of the central components of H.R. 3200 is a federal “Health Insurance Exchange.”  Providing more information for Americans to comparison shop and make informed decisions is a good idea.  However, the Exchange is much more than a “plan finder.”  To be listed in the Exchange, a plan would first have to meet a slew of benefit mandates set by the “Health Benefits Advisory Committee.”  Even if a plan satisfies those benefit mandates, they must still meet additional standards determined by the Commissioner of the Exchange.  The Commissioner, who reports only to the President, is given near unilateral authority over the Exchange by H.R. 3200.

Read the rest of the newsletter here.