Conference Committee Would Write Final Bill

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, September 11, 2009
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. We’ve discussed the healthcare bill for months and we’ve learned what’s in it and what’s not. We were told there’s no end-of-life counseling to encourage senior citizens toward assisted suicide. But after it was called a “death panel”, they said they’d take it out. Then, we were told the “public option” is not REALLY a government plan to get rid of private insurance and when so many people opposed it, they decided to drop it and create a co-op instead. But they never explained that a co-op is a public option in disguise.

We were told we could keep our own insurance plans, but we were not told private insurance companies could not compete with the plan’s cheaper rates and all health policies would soon be federally controlled. We were told we could keep our own doctors, but that’s not true. Many of our doctors are specialists, but patients will be provided primary care doctors only. We were told another 46 million people will get government healthcare, but we weren’t told that illegal aliens are a big percentage of that 46 million. We were told we would get quality health care, but were not told health care would be rationed for all of us.

We were told abortion would not be part of the plan, but with no restriction on family planning services, abortion falls into their definition of “family planning”. We were told all this and more, but even if all these bad things were removed and a “better” bill passes the House and a “better” bill passes the Senate, that’s not the end of it. The final bill will be written in a conference committee.

In Georgia, conference committees are made up of three representatives and three senators, but in Congress there’s no set rule about how many or who is appointed to conference committees. So, H.R. 3200 must be defeated NOW to avoid an even more radical bill than the original. Call Senators Chambliss at 1 800 234-4208, his office in Macon that will pass your message to him in D.C. Then, call and Senator Isakson at 770 661-0999, his Atlanta office or 1 202 224-3643 in D.C. Also, call your Congressman toll-free at 1 877 762-8762 and give your nine-digit zip code to be connected to his office. The nine-digit number is on your junk mail. It’s on your junk mail. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol Correspondent.