And the news so far is not good…

Hot Air has the story, along with a video of Amy Menefee from Patients United Now. (H/T Stop the ACLU)

The bill is HUGE, so right now conservative bloggers are scouring it to find out what’s in it.

Here’s what Ed Morrissey found so far in the bill, on pages 39-40:

(1) IN GENERAL – A State shall keep an accurate accounting of all activities, receipts, and expenditures of any Gateway operating in such State and annually submit to the Secretary a report concerning such accountings.

(2) INVESTIGATIONS – The Secretary may investigate the affairs of a Gateway, may examine the properties and records of a Gateway, and may require periodical reports in relation to activities undertaken by a Gateway.  A Gateway shall fully cooperate in any investigation conducted under this paragraph.

Ed writes:

“Gateway” means “provider,” and this appears to do away with that pesky Fourth Amendment, which normally requires search warrants and probable cause to access the records of individuals and businesses.  Not under ObamaCare!  Now, everyone belongs to the government … rather than the other way around.  George Orwell, call your office!

Amy Menefee’s group is running this TV ad to help Americans to understand the perils of single-payer health care by learning from the Canadians, who are stuck in waiting so long that they die, or bite the bullet and come here to pay out of pocket. Patients United Now has the entire 167 page bill online and it is searchable, for those of you who would like to take a look at it.

My previous post on socialized medicine linked to even more horror stories from other countries with socialized medicine.

UPDATE: Commenter ECM sent me this story about how the CBO is not counting the costs of mandatory health care for the uninsured in their estimates, because they are charging it against private insurers!

Typically, the CBO scores legislation only after it has been finalized. But in a May 27 issue brief, the CBO took a proactive stance on budgetary treatment of proposals to change the nation’s health insurance system. A federal mandate requiring individuals to have a minimum amount of health insurance would not be counted as a government expense “because the federal government imposes a variety of mandates on private entities whose associated costs are not included in the budget,” said CBO director Douglas Elmendorf in a blog explaining the brief.

NOT GOOD!