U.S. CONGRESSMAN PAUL C. BROUN, M.D. 10th Congressional District of Georgia

A line-by-line summary of The OPTION Act

The OPTION Act (H.R. 3889)
The Offering Patients True and Individualized Options Now Act

1)  Make the Purchase of Health Care More Affordable to More People

• Drastically expand the individual market available for individual purchasing
• Increase pooling options
• Lower the overarching cost of health care for everyone through the tax system

2)  Make All Health Care Related Expenses Totally Tax Deductible for Everyone

• Extend the income tax deduction on health care premiums to all individuals
• Allow for individuals to take tax deductions for health care related expenses they incur including all health care expenses currently allowed to be purchased with Health Savings Account (HSA) funds
• Individuals who have employer health care plans but still incur costs on medical expenses, deductibles, premiums, pharmaceuticals (prescribed, over the counter, etc.), or any medical related expenses would qualify
• Allow Medicare recipients to deduct their Medicare supplemental insurance premiums for tax purposes (typically AARP supplemental, but others qualify as well

3)  Significantly Expand Health Savings Accounts Contributions and Eligibility

• Increase the maximum contribution level for tax deductible deposits into HSAs
• Allow for Medicare recipients to continue to contribute money into their HSAs even after they reach Medicare eligibility (currently forbidden)
• Allow any additional money in an HSA at the time of the account holder’s passing to be inherited by the beneficiaries of the account holder’s estate.
• HSA contributions would continue to rollover year to year and be compounded.
• Interest earned from HSA’s would be tax deferrable.
• Companies would be allowed/encouraged to purchase catastrophic insurance for their employees as a companion for matching employee contributions (or a certain percentage of employee contributions) into an HSA
• HSA savings would automatically be eligible to rollover into Medicare Savings Accounts (MSA) (discussed under point 4)
• Individuals with HSAs would be allowed to donate their own personal HSA contributions to charity, which would also be a qualifying tax deduction

4)  Repeal and Reform the Barriers That Currently Exist for Physicians to Donate Charity and Pro Bono Care

• Allow physicians a tax credit for providing charity medical care, with annual credits upwards of  $8,000
• Repeal the barriers for physicians to volunteer at clinics.
• Eligible charity care consists of both volunteering in clinics as well as pro bono work performed in a private practice

5)  Reform Medicare from being a Government Administered Health Care Program to a Market-Based Voucher System

• Instead of Medicare being a government-run insurance provider, Medicare would instead issue vouchers to each participant in the program at the beginning of the year, at a specific amount equal to 110% of the current per beneficiary allotment of Medicare per county, for two purposes:
  • 1) Used to buy private insurance 
    2) Contribution of additional funds into an MSA (which would compound   and rollover year to year and become part of estate on passing).  MSA would have the same tax benefits and be under the same regulations as HSAs

6)  Allow for Individuals to Keep their Health Insurance Indefinitely if they Choose once they Leave their Jobs

• Expands the portability of health insurance plans for individuals

7)  Encourages Better Transparency in Health Care Pricing

• Nothing in this legislation will preclude a medical provider or an insurance company from publicly disclosing their prices, which will allow for greater transparency in the health care market.

8)  Review and Reform Current EMTALA Regulations

• Allows a medical professional with certified, basic medical knowledge (such as a  PA, RN, EMT, etc.) to triage patients coming into an Emergency Department  (ED) and decide if their ailment is truly “emergent”, by the current EMC standard:
         
  • If a treatment is deemed to not be emergent then a technician, with redundant approval, would be able to direct the patient to a more suitable treatment place, such as a clinic, an urgent care facility or simply to their regular physician.  Ideally, this component would be part of a large scale education and resource allocation program, to help serve underserved populations by utilizing the hospitals, clinics and doctors in various areas.

9)  Eliminates the Barriers to Shop Across State Lines for Health Insurance

• Using the Constitutional Authority vested in the Commerce Clause, individuals  would be allowed to shop across state lines for individual health insurance.

10)  Expand Pooling Options to Allow Any Qualified Entity to Create an Insurance Pool and Negotiate Health Insurance Plans on Behalf of any Participating Member

• This provision takes existing Association Health Plan Language (as of yet not  law) and expands it to allow for the inclusion of not just associations, but any  entity (Rotary Clubs, Neighborhood Associations, etc.) who meet basic  qualifications such as having a Constitution, conducting regular meetings and  having a tax identification number on file with a state’s Secretary of State’s  office, to negotiate on behalf of their participating membership health care plans  and rates.

Keep terror sponsors away from the U.N.
Posted in The Hill

Iran’s despotic dictator, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived on U.S. soil yesterday.  By law, the United States is required to allow foreign personnel to travel to the U.N. complex and its surrounding vicinity.  Disturbingly, there is not a consistent standard of permissible access to Manhattan for diplomats and personnel from state sponsors of terrorism.

This dangerous practice burdens our intelligence community. The FBI is responsible for protecting the United States against foreign intelligence operations and espionage, a difficult job for an organization of 30,000 people. That job is complicated further by the influx of foreign personnel with diplomatic immunity stationed at the United Nations in New York.

To help make it easier for our intelligence community to monitor these diplomats and personnel, I joined Congressman Dan Boren yesterday to introduce our Limiting the Intrusive Miles of International Terrorist Sponsors Act (LIMITS Act).  Our bipartisan bill to limit personnel from state sponsors of terrorism to half a mile radius of the United Nations complex will level the playing field by providing one consistent standard.

We must not forget that in 2002, 2003, and 2004, personnel from the Iranian Mission to the United Nations were caught photographing and videotaping the New York City subway and other popular landmarks. Consequently, some of these individuals were expelled by the State Department for spying or "engaging in activities not consistent with their duties." Iran is not the only country designated as a state sponsor of terrorism that is engaged in intelligence collection - and other activities counter to our national and economic security - on U.S. soil.

Unless action is taken, history is bound to repeat itself.

Great Wall Street Journal Chart

This chart is based on nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates:

Click the image below to view WRDW's coverage of last night's town hall meeting in Columbia County. Nearly 2,000 people came out to talk about health care reform!



Click this image to view NBC Augusta's coverage:

Good Article from The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal today highlights the savings that cabinet secretaries have found within their budgets.  You’ll remember that earlier this year, President Obama ordered the cabinet secretaries to find $100 million in budget cuts. I think Brian Reidl at the Heritage Foundation appropriately sums up their efforts when he says, “Some of these cuts are so small that they would be a rounding error of a rounding error in the federal budget.”  Check out the entire article here.

Excerpt:

In a Savings Shocker, the Government Discovers That Paper Has Two Sides
Front-and-Back Copies, Other Wonders Help Agencies Save $102 Million -- .006% of Deficit

By JONATHAN WEISMAN
WASHINGTON - With the budget deficit soaring toward $2 trillion, the Department of Justice has figured out how to play its part: double-sided photocopying.
There are other acts of national sacrifice. The Forest Service will no longer repaint its new, white vehicles green immediately upon purchase. The Army will start packing more soldiers onto R&R flights. The Navy will delete unused email accounts….

Get to Know a Congressman

Shenanigans catches up with a newish member: Georgia Republican Paul Broun, a former family physician who loves to hunt big game.

What do your constituents say about all the animal heads in your office?
They are speechless and love to take pictures in front of the full-size lion and full-size bear.

Have you and Don Young (R-Alaska) gone hunting together yet?
Don Young hunts in a petting zoo. I go after game.

Why do you think there aren’t more doctors in Congress?
They are too busy taking care of patients and putting time in helping others.

What do you miss most about your home state?
Fried chicken, fiscal and personal responsibility and the right to bear arms.

What’s the biggest misconception about being in Congress?
That the lifestyle is glamorous. In reality, there is a lot of hard work, poor diets and very little sleep. When I do get to sleep, it’s on an air mattress in my office.

Who is the funniest member of Congress?
Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas).

What’s the strangest thing a member has said to you?
That there is a scientific consensus that human-induced global warming is real.

What has been the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do?
Meeting with Herschel Walker, Justice [Antonin] Scalia and Ben Stein.

What’s been your biggest embarrassment so far?
Despite the aggressive write-in campaign on my behalf, I failed to make The Hill’s 50 most beautiful list.

How has your life changed?
Very little time now to do things I used to enjoy, like golf and hunting. But it’s all worth it in order to put America back on the right path and stop that steamroller of socialism.

Was it strange to suddenly eat food on toothpicks?
Nah. A toothpick is simply a scaled-down version of the rotisserie sticks I use to cook most of my meals that end up on my trophy wall.

Peggy Noonan’s commentary today in the WSJ highlights how the President has misjudged the mood of the American people. Ms. Noonan goes on to explain that common sense may be the very thing that slows down this government run health care experiment:

“I think the plan is being slowed and may well be stopped not by ideology, or even by philosophy in a strict sense, but by simple American common sense. I suspect voters, the past few weeks, have been giving themselves an internal Q-and-A that goes something like this:

Will whatever health care bill is produced by Congress increase the deficit? “Of course.” Will it mean tax increases? “Of course.” Will it mean new fees or fines? “Probably.” Can I afford it right now? “No, I’m already getting clobbered.” Will it make the marketplace freer and better? “Probably not.” Is our health care system in crisis? “Yeah, it has been for years.” Is it the most pressing crisis right now? “No, the economy is.” Will a health-care bill improve the economy? ‘I doubt it.’”

This imaginary conversation sounds just like what I’m hearing from thousands of my constituents.  They want the government to fix the health care financing crisis, but they don’t want Washington to run it.

During his press conference on Wednesday night, the President failed to answer many questions and omitted details about the plan. I believe that the American people deserve straight answers about what exactly is in store for them if this partisan plan that is being rushed through Congress makes it to the President’s desk.

Great Article in Roll Call on the Censorship of Important Health Care Information:

Not only have Liberal Democrats ignored alternative ideas, but they are now preventing the release of important health care information about their TRILLION-dollar government-run health care experiment. 

Democrats Block GOP Health Care Mailing
July 23, 2009
By Jackie Kucinich
Roll Call Staff

Democrats are preventing Republican House Members from sending their constituents a mailing that is critical of the majority’s health care reform plan, blocking the mailing by alleging that it is inaccurate.

House Republicans are crying foul and claiming that the Democrats are using their majority to prevent GOP Members from communicating with their constituents.

The dispute centers on a chart created by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Republican staff of the Joint Economic Committee to illustrate the organization of the Democratic health care plan.

At first glance, Brady’s chart resembles a board game: a colorful collection of shapes and images with a web of lines connecting them.

But a closer look at the image reveals a complicated menagerie of government offices and programs that Republicans say will be created if the leading Democratic health care plan becomes law.

In a memo sent Monday to Republicans on the House franking commission, Democrats argue that sending the chart to constituents as official mail would violate House rules because the information is misleading.

In their eight-point memo, which was obtained by Roll Call, Democrats identify a litany of areas where they believe the chart is incorrect.

For example, Democrats argue that the chart depicts a “Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund” that is “simply a recipient of IRS funds, with no outflow. ... This is false.”

The chart’s illustration of low-income subsidies is also “misleading and false,” Democrats argue.

Congressional rules for franked mail bar Members from using taxpayer-funded mail for newsletters that use “partisan, politicized or personalized” comments to criticize legislation or policy.

The dispute over Brady’s chart is being reviewed by the franking commission, which must approve any mail before it can be sent. No decision had been made on the matter by press time.

Brady adamantly denied that the chart was misleading and said Democrats are simply threatened by the content of the graphic.

“I think their review was laughable,” Brady said. “It’s ... downright false in most of the cases. The chart depicts their health care plan as their committees developed it.”

“The chart reveals how their health care bureaucracy works, and people are frightened by it,” he added. “So this is their effort to try and discredit” the chart.

Republican Members have made 20 requests to mail a version of the chart to their constituents and have been told that the requests are being delayed while the commission reviews allegations that the chart is misleading.

“Hiding the truth about wildly unpopular policies is a Democrat specialty,” said one GOP aide. “I’d like to see the flow chart on how Speaker [Nancy] Pelosi plans on implementing the open and transparent government she keeps promising everyone.”

“We have initiated discussions with the minority to try and resolve current differences and are operating in good faith to achieve that goal,” said Kyle Anderson, a spokesman for House Administration Chairman Robert Brady (D-Pa.). The committee has oversight of the commission.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Calif.), ranking member of the committee and a member of the franking commission, said through a spokeswoman that he is also aware of the situation and is working with the members of the franking commission to resolve the differences, but he added that he believed Democrats on the commission were overreaching.

“He strongly believes that the franking commission does not have the authority to deny Member communications based on partisan differences of pending legislation,” said Salley Collins, a spokeswoman for Lungren.

The franking commission is made up of three Democrats and three Republicans.

Republicans quickly embraced Brady’s chart, and over the past week about 50 Members have posted it on their Congressional Web sites or used it in a floor speech. It has also been posted on the home page of the Republican National Committee.