Preventative Health Care Bill Killed by Special Interest

By Ivo Tomasini
I’m not sure if you are aware of bill H.R. 3472: a bill providing health insurance premium discounts for exercising and good health habits. The full bill description is below.

The bill had been authored by Rep Kathy Dahlkemper. It’s interesting, because she had support from both Democrats and Republicans due to the way in which the bill was cost effective and promoted preventative health.

But it was specifically lobbyists from the American Diabetes Association, American Heart Association, and the American Cancer Society that worked together to “kill the bill”. Watch the video by Wyatt Cenac as he points out this absurdity.

The Daily Show made a parody of it and Forbes published an article here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryhusten/2011/11/01/daily-show-asks-why-the-aha-killed-a-bill-encouraging-healthy-behavior/

It’s interesting to note (as we have shown in our ADA Massive Effort to Push Drugs article) how all of these organizations have similar ties to Big Pharma companies. For example: “The AHA took in more than $30 million in 2006-2007 alone from drug companies and the makers of medical devices… and it appears that the group has a history of not being forthcoming about those financial links” – Health Revelations

The same can be said for most or all medical societies including the American Cancer Society, one of the big 3 that helped kill Rep Kathy Dahlkemper’s bill in an instant. They (the big 3) even went so far as to call her several times demanding that she no longer promote her bill.

H.R. 3472 (authored by Rep Kathy Dahlkemper)
Requires a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer offering group health insurance coverage in the group market or health insurance coverage in the individual market, for plan years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, to provide premium discounts for healthy behavior and improvements toward healthy behavior.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), to conclude a rulemaking procedure to determine the appropriate premium discount applicable to each healthy behavior and each improvement toward healthy behavior.

Describes “healthy behavior” (and improvements toward such behavior) as indicated by factors related to smoking, blood pressure, body mass index, lipoprotein levels, and hemoglobin A1c levels.

Requires any healthy behavior or improvement toward healthy behavior to be supported by medical test result information which is certified by a licensed physician, and the individual to whom it relates, as being complete, accurate and current. Imposes civil penalties for false certifications.

Daily Show with Wyatt Cenac:

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