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

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