TUCSON, Ariz., Dec. 03, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The lengthy and complex Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was not written quickly in 2008 by elected representatives and their staff. It was the product of decades of work by influential individuals and groups, many of whom were also involved in drafting the failed Clinton plan. The same people are now deeply involved in ACA implementation, writes Katherine Tillman, R.N., M.A., in the winter issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.
ACA “is made up of numerous moving parts surrounded by truth and fiction, promises and deception—elements coming from both inside and outside government and making congressional oversight nearly impossible,” Tillman writes.
The central feature is that it is “the legal catalyst for a massive information technology (IT) infrastructure connecting, tracking, and exploiting economic, social, and cultural components of American society. Government departments may now arbitrarily structure thousands of regulations and policies from this poorly written legislation, all of which have an impact on the personal lives of citizens from prenatal exams to hospice,” Tillman states.
“But who is in charge?” she asks.
Tillman traces the career paths and interactions of key ACA architects such as Lois Quam, John Podesta, Neera Tanden, Ezekiel (“Zeke”) Emanuel, Jonathan Gruber, and Topher Spiro, and the role played by UnitedHealth Group, its many subsidiaries, and the Center for American Progress.
Persons now in high-level management positions within the Department of Health and Human Services share common goals of fundamentally transforming America and establishing a monopolistic insurance structure that can become a single payer. Failures and delays created opportunities for well-positioned companies to come in and “save the day,” Tillman explains.
A huge repository of our most sensitive data, from medical records to tax returns, can now be used in making coercive decisions about our medical care, to help achieve the “progressive” social goals of a powerful elite, Tillman concludes.
Tillman retired in 2013 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) after 14 years as a policy analyst. Previously she worked as fraud investigator for a CMS contractor, TrailBlazers. She has also worked in medical review, medical malpractice defense, and insurance adjustment.
The Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), a national organization representing physicians in all specialties since 1943.