Just got this from my insurance broker...

September 20, 2010

I am writing today to request your help in trying to stop one of the most troubling aspects of the healthcare reform program, which is the institution of healthcare exchanges.

These are government-run programs where eventually virtually everyone will be forced into them for your purchase of health insurance.

These plans, as it stands now, will only be offering 4 different choices of benefits, plus one catastrophic plan, instead of all of the choices we currently have.

As you may be aware, currently for small groups there are some 250 choices of plans from the brand name carriers and for individuals there are almost 200 options, so you really have a choice of plans that work best for you.

There is a possibility some of our current plans can be included into the exchange, but there are a number of qualifications that can eliminate most of those plans.

The second concern is the cost. The first estimate is that it is going to run $1 billion to set this up. Also, the entire program will be run by a 5-member board and those 5 members will be strictly political appointments. So you will have 5 political appointees making decisions on billions of dollars spent on healthcare in California.

They will not only determine how the money is spent, they will also have a say in exactly what those plans will cover.

The Chamber of Commerce is also considering going to battle against this.

Should this go into place, we would still be able to help you with plan choices, but it is a huge restriction on your options.

I have attached a letter that reviews some of these points and if you agree that you would rather not have the government run your healthcare, then please forward this on to Governor Schwarzenegger. He may well approve this plan but he has not yet done so and still has an opportunity to stop this for the time being.

Because of the restrictions on emails and attachments sent to the Governor’s office, the recommendation is that you fax this letter to him. His fax number is 916-558-3160.

Should there be no changes in this reform plan, then there will be some type of exchange set up, but it might not be near as restrictive as the one California is attempting to pass.

This is supposed to go into force in 2014, although the California legislature may try to push some of this through sooner.

There is another aspect to the federal healthcare reform program which you might not be aware of, and that is the requirement for business owners to report to the IRS any payments they make of $600 or more to any vendor during the course of the year.

The theory is that by doing all this reporting, somehow they will track down fraud and that will help pay some of the costs of this healthcare program. It is, of course, an onerous responsibility for business owners.

At present, the plan is to hire an additional 18,000 IRS agents to monitor employer compliance.

Again, the attached letter is strictly about the healthcare exchanges. The other measure is part of the national reform program.

There has been some movement in the US Senate among both Republicans and Democrats to take this out of the reform package. I am sad to say that late last week the senate rejected removing this, so this likely will be something that small business owners will have to face.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.

It sickens me that we are all going to be destroyed by the abomination known as "Obamacare" (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) as it just keeps on steamrolling over us in the next several years. Please vote against the idiots who forced this down our throats in November!