X-Message-Number: 2687 From: Tim Freeman <> Subject: CRYONICS Re: medical care legal issues Date: Mon, 11 Apr 94 12:44:21 -0400 In CRYOMSG 2685, Thomas Donaldson writes: ... the Clinton plan and other similar plans which have been put forward in the US Congress (Clinton HR 3600/ S 1757) Chafee (S1770), Nickles (S1743), Gramm (S1807) and others. Among the provisions which should disturb us are: * We are legally required to purchase health coverage from the choices provided by our health alliance. * It becomes ILLEGAL for us to go elsewhere (HSA pp. 243-244, Title I, Section 1423). * The plan would impose federal prison sentences on patients who offer anything for special treatment; health providers who accept a "bribe" for providing special care would be subject to 15 years imprisonment, patients 2 years (HSA p.973, Title V, Subtitle E, Sec 5434).... I have seen claims similar to the last of these before. Last time I saw the claims, I ftp'd to whitehouse.gov to get the text of the relevant bill, and even after perusing the bill for an hour or so, I couldn't understand the jargon well enough to verify the claims. I'm reluctant to repeat the experiment, but I invite others to do so (the relevant directory on whitehouse.gov is apparently pub/political-science/Health-Security-Act). If someone sends me a minimal subset of the text of these bills that convinces me of the last claim above within 30 minutes or so of study, I'll send $50 to the organization cited by Donaldson and post the proof to a few relevant newsgroups. Tim Freeman Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=2687