In a few days, the House of Representatives will vote on the Senate version of the health care bill.  This is the Senate bill that was so noxious to begin with, that in December the necessary Democratic votes had to bought using the most outlandish bribery.  Now, this distasteful document is working its way through the House, unable to glean many Democratic votes or even a single Republican endorsement.

There are lots of reasons to hate the Senate bill, far beyond the “Cornhusker Kickback” that has become so emblematic.  The substance of the bill is what is noxious.  The bill is intrusive into health care and insurance in ways that have never been contemplated before.  In addition to issuing myriad laws regarding what insurers can charge and what they must cover, there are also many federal commissions that are created.  I provide below just a small sampling of some of the new Commissions that will take control of, and intrude upon, your health care and health insurance:  To name a few:  

-          Section 3101:  “The National Independent Commission on Essential Healthcare Benefits” – 17 members appointed by the Secretary of Health – it will review and analyze current health care benefits offered.  The commission will make recommendations regarding the effectiveness and affordability of the benefit. The Commission must include a labor union representative, an expert in actuarial science (a person who calculates how soon people will die), a patient consumer advocate, a third party payer, and several types of health care professionals.  This Commission will set, by law, what your health plan must cover, even if you don’t want the coverage or can’t afford the coverage. 

-          Section 504:  “Fraud, Waste and Abuse Commission” – appointed by the President – to include insurers, providers, employers, consumers and anti-fraud organizations.  The goal is to root out waste and fraud – because nobody ever thought of that before, so we need a new Commission.  Criminal penalties are outlined. 

-          Section 561:  Authorizing the federal government to issue “cease and desist” orders, and to seize insurance plans, that are in a financially hazardous condition.  So, if your insurance company gets into trouble, instead of being allowed to fix its own difficulties, or to be acquired by another insurer, the federal government will order your insurer to shut down, and the feds will take over. 

-          Section 187:  “The Commission of Key National Indicators” (page 143) – 8 members appointed by Congress, to establish Key National Indicators, which are never defined anywhere in the entire document.  But it must be important.... 

I could go on, but you get the point.  The level of governmental intrusion and interference in medical coverage in America will be truly staggering.  This bill has a hard time garnering votes, precisely because it is a bad bill.  It is bad legislation, and the American people know it.  However, the White House remains convinced that the electorate, like sheep, will follow Obama and his party right down the road to socialized health care after this bill is passed. 

Nancy Pelosi and President Obama honestly believe that if they can pass the bill, and then continue to talk about what is in it, that eventually the voters will sign on.  Like sheep herders, they believe that just by pushing and yelling and cajoling and pushing some more, eventually we ovine creatures will fall into line, and walk calmly into the single payer health care system.  If we sheep oppose the health care plan, it’s only because we’re too dumb to understand it.  Being only sheep, we require constant direction from our shepherds so that we do what’s good for us. 

Senators and Congressmen who have voted against this bill did so precisely because they fear that the American people are not, in fact, sheep.  And despite what Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi would like to believe, the Democratic leaders in Washington are not our shepherds.  We are not sheep.  This will become apparent, even to Ms. Pelosi, very soon. 

Dr. Laura Niklason is a physician and professor of Anesthesia and Biomedical Engineering at Yale University.