What To Ask Your Congressperson About Obamacare (Part 4)

By Kyle-Anne Shiver and Lee Cary

Here’s the 4th installment in a series of questions you can ask your member of the House of Representatives concerning H.R. 3200 – also known as Obamacare.

The entire bill can be read here. This website will help you find ways to contact your congressperson’s office.

If your Representative is undecided or favors Obamacare, call and ask for someone knowledgeable about the bill. Ask your question(s) and then considering entering what you hear in the comment section of American Thinker.

Question 13: According to Section 223, Payment Rates For Items And Services, “The Secretary [of the Treasury] shall establish payment rates for the public health insurance option for services and health care providers consistent with this section and may change such payment rates in accordance with section 224.”

Also, according to Section 225, Provider Participation, there are two schedules of payment terms for physicians. Preferred Physicians “agree to accept the payment rate established under section 223 (without regard to cost-sharing) as the payment in full.” And, Participating, Non-Preferred Physicians “who agree not to impose charges…that exceed the ratio permitted under section 1848(g)(2)(C) of the Social Security Act.

Section 1848(g)(2)(C) reads: “(C) After 1992.—For physicians' services furnished in a year after 1992, the 'limiting charge' shall be 115 percent of the recognized payment amount under this part for nonparticipating physicians or for nonparticipating suppliers or other persons.”

SO, Timmy Geithner will be responsible for deciding how much physicians make? (How does he do that when he can’t accurately calculate his own taxes?) What’s the projected cumulative impact on the income of U.S. physicians?

Question 14: Section 59B, Tax On Individuals Without Acceptable Health Care Coverage, “In the case of any individual who does not met the requirements of subsection (d) at any time during the taxable year, there is hereby imposed a tax equal to 2.5 percent of the excess of (1) the taxpayers’ modified adjusted gross income for the taxable year, over (2) the amount of gross income specified in sections 6012(a)(1) with respect to the taxpayer.”

SO, why is this plan sometimes referred to with the words “health care choices” when my only choices are to comply or pay a tax penalty? Exactly what are these “choices”?

Question 15: According to Section 59M (p. 171), “(2) Nonresident Alien. Subsection (a) [pertaining to the tax on individuals without acceptable health care coverage] does not apply to any individual who is a non-resident alien.”

SO, who pays for the health care for those in the U.S. on J-1 and F-1 visas? We citizen taxpayers?

Watch this space for more of “What To Ask Your Congressperson About Obamacare.” For earlier installments in this series see part 1, part 2, and part 3.