Plain Language (Part 1)

What follows is an extract from one of the proposed Congressional bills to re-form U.S. healthcare: Senate bill S. 1679, The Affordable Healthcare Choices Act as of July 15, 2009 (pdf).

CAUTION: People have been injured trying to stay awake while reading legislation.

S. 1679 is the 839-page Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Senate committee version of the 1017-page House bill, HR3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (pdf). Both bills are detailed attempts to micro-manage the healthcare industry, but most legislators will vote after reading only a 25-page summary (pdf) written in conceptual language (plain English) by the Senate committee. The Senate Finance Committee has another version of the bill available online only as a 262-page marked up summary: Finance chairman Baucus' America's Healthy Future Act (pdf).

The extract from Senate bill S. 1679 is shown in legalese, followed by a one paragraph summary from the conceptual language document. Sections 152 and 161 below, describe the proposed changes to the Internal Revenue Code to add penalties for individuals not carrying healthcare insurance, and for voluntary authorization to the Treasury secretary to release individual tax information to the Department of HHS.

Sections 152 and 161, Pages 158-166, of Senate Bill S. 1679, The Affordable Healthcare Choices Act

(From O:\BAI\BAI09I50.xml [file 1 of 6] S.L.C.pp. 158-166)

16 SEC. 152. PROGRAM INTEGRITY.
17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (l) of section 6103 of
18 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding
19 at the end the following new paragraph:
20 ‘‘(21) VOLUNTARY AUTHORIZATION FOR IN

21 COME VERIFICATION.—
22 ‘‘(A) VOLUNTARY AUTHORIZATION.—The
23 Secretary shall provide a mechanism for each
24 taxpayer to indicate whether such taxpayer au

25 thorizes the Secretary to disclose to the Sec

p. 159
1 retary of Health and Human Services (or, pur

2 suant to a delegation described in subsection
3 (d)(4)(B), to a State or a Gateway (as defined
4 in section 3101 of the Public Health Service
5 Act) return information of a taxpayer who may
6 be eligible for credits under section 3111 of the
7 Public Health Service Act.
8 ‘‘(B) PROVISION OF INFORMATION.—If a
9 taxpayer authorizes the disclosure described in
10 subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall disclose
11 to the Secretary of Health and Human Services
12 (or, pursuant to a delegation described in sub

13 section (d)(4)(B), to a State or a Gateway) the
14 minimum necessary amount of information nec

15 essary to establish whether such individual is el

16 igible for credits under section 3111 of the
17 Public Health Service Act.
18 ‘‘(C) RESTRICTION ON USE OF DISCLOSED
19 INFORMATION.—Return information disclosed
20 under subparagraph (A) may be used by the
21 Secretary (or, pursuant to a delegation de

22 scribed in subsection (d)(4)(B), a State or a
23 Gateway) only for the purposes of, and to the
24 extent necessary in, establishing the appropriate
p. 160
1 amount of any payments under section 3111 of
2 the Public Health Service Act.’’.
3 (b) COLLECTION OF AMOUNTS.—Section 6305(a) of
4 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by insert

5 ing ‘‘or under section 3111 of the Public Health Service
6 Act’’ after ‘‘Social Security Act’’.
7 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—
8 (1) Paragraph (3) of section 6103(a) of such
9 Code is amended by striking ‘‘or (20)’’ and inserting
10 ‘‘(20), or (21)’’.
11 (2) Paragraph (4) of section 6103(p) of such
12 Code is amended by striking ‘‘(l)(10), (16), (18),
13 (19), or (20)’’ each place it appears and inserting
14 ‘‘(l)(10), (16), (18), (19), (20), or (21)’’.
15 (3) Paragraph (2) of section 7213(a) of such
16 Code is amended by striking ‘‘or (20)’’ and inserting
17 ‘‘(20), or (21)’’.
18 Subtitle D—Shared Responsibility
19 for Health Care
20 SEC. 161. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.
21 (a) PAYMENTS.—
22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter A of chapter 1
23 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to
24 determination of tax liability) is amended by adding
25 at the end the following new part:
p. 161
1 ‘‘PART VIII—SHARED RESPONSIBILITY
2 PAYMENTS
‘‘Sec. 59B. Shared responsibility payments.
3 ‘‘SEC. 59B. SHARED RESPONSIBILITY PAYMENTS.
4 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—Every individual shall ensure
5 that such individual, and each dependent of such indi

6 vidual, is covered under qualifying coverage at all times
7 during the taxable year.
8 ‘‘(b) PAYMENT.—
9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—
10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of any in

11 dividual who did not have in effect qualifying
12 coverage (as defined in section 3116 of the
13 Public Health Service Act) for any month dur

14 ing the taxable year, there is hereby imposed
15 for the taxable year, in addition to any other
16 amount imposed by this subtitle, an amount
17 equal to the amount established under para

18 graph (2).
19 ‘‘(B) RULE FOR DEPENDENTS.—Any
20 amount to be imposed under this subsection
21 with respect to an individual described in sub

22 paragraph (A) that is a dependent (as defined
23 in section 152) of another taxpayer shall be im

24 posed—
p. 162
1 ‘‘(i) except in any case described in
2 clause (ii), upon the taxpayer on whom
3 such individual is a dependent; or
4 ‘‘(ii) in any case in which the taxpayer
5 with respect to whom such individual is a
6 dependent files a joint return, jointly upon
7 the taxpayer and the spouse of the tax

8 payer.
9 ‘‘(C) LIMITATION.—The maximum amount
10 imposed under this paragraph with respect to
11 any taxpayer shall not exceed 4 times the
12 amount determined under paragraph (2)(D).
13 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT ESTABLISHED.—
14 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT TO ESTABLISH.—Not
15 later than June 30 of each calendar year, the
16 Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of
17 Health and Human Services and with the
18 States, shall establish an amount for purposes
19 of paragraph (1).
20 ‘‘(B) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amount es

21 tablished under subparagraph (A) shall be ef

22 fective with respect to the taxable year following
23 the date on which the amount under subpara

24 graph (A) is established.
p. 163
1 ‘‘(C) REQUIRED CONSIDERATION.—Subject
2 to the limitation described in subparagraph (D),
3 in establishing the amount under subparagraph
4 (A), the Secretary shall seek to establish the
5 minimum practicable amount that can accom

6 plish the goal of enhancing participation in
7 qualifying coverage (as so defined).
8 ‘‘(D) LIMITATION.—
9 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to an ad

10 justment under clause (ii), the amount es

11 tablished under this subparagraph is $750.
12 ‘‘(ii) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.—Be

13 ginning with taxable years after 2011, the
14 amount described in clause (i) shall be ad

15 justed by the Secretary by notice, pub

16 lished in the Federal Register, for each fis

17 cal year to reflect the total percentage
18 change that occurred in the medical care
19 component of the Consumer Price Index
20 for all urban consumers (all items; U.S.
21 city average) during the preceding calendar
22 year.
23 ‘‘(c) EXEMPTIONS.—Subsection (b) shall not apply to
24 any individual—
p. 164
1 ‘‘(1) with respect to any month if such month
2 occurs during any period in which such individual
3 did not have qualifying coverage (as so defined) for
4 a period of less than 90 days,
5 ‘‘(2) who is a resident of a State that is not a
6 participating State or an establishing State (as such
7 terms are defined in section 3104 of the Public
8 Health Service Act),
9 ‘‘(3) who is an Indian as defined in section 4
10 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act,
11 ‘‘(4) for whom affordable health care coverage
12 is not available (as such terms are defined by the
13 Secretary of Health and Human Services under sec

14 tion 3103 of the Public Health Service Act), or
15 ‘‘(5) described in section 3116(a)(4)(C) of the
16 Public Health Service Act.
17 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION WITH OTHER PROVISIONS.—
18 ‘‘(1) NOT TREATED AS TAX FOR CERTAIN PUR

19 POSES.—The amount imposed by this section shall
20 not be treated as a tax imposed by this chapter for
21 purposes of determining—
22 ‘‘(A) the amount of any credit allowable
23 under this chapter, or
24 ‘‘(B) the amount of the minimum tax im

25 posed by section 55.
p. 165
1 ‘‘(2) TREATMENT UNDER SUBTITLE F.—For
2 purposes of subtitle F, the amount imposed by this
3 section shall be treated as if it were a tax imposed
4 by section 1.
5 ‘‘(3) SECTION 15 NOT TO APPLY.—Section 15
6 shall not apply to the amount imposed by this sec

7 tion.
8 ‘‘(4) SECTION NOT TO AFFECT LIABILITY OF
9 POSSESSIONS, ETC.—This section shall not apply for
10 purposes of determining liability to any possession of
11 the United States. For purposes of section 932 and
12 7654, the amount imposed under this section shall
13 not be treated as a tax imposed by this chapter.
14 ‘‘(e) USES.—Amounts collected under this section
15 shall be dedicated to premium credits established under
16 section 3111 of the Public Health Service Act.
17 ‘‘(f) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary may prescribe
18 such regulations as may be appropriate to carry out the
19 purposes of this section.’’.
20 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of
21 parts for subchapter A of chapter 1 of such Code is
22 amended by adding at the end the following new
23 item:
‘‘PART VIII—SHARED RESPONSIBILITY PAYMENTS’’.
p. 166
1 (3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made
2 by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning
3 after December 31, 2011.

Could you understand much of the extract?

If not, don't worry, neither can the legislators arrogant enough to believe they're qualified to micro-manage the US healthcare industry.

Summary Paragraph

Here's the conceptual language paragraph from the detailed summary of S. 1679 (pdf), summarizing the extract above:

Individual Responsibility. All individuals will be required to obtain health insurance coverage.
Exemptions will also be made for individuals for whom affordable health care coverage is not
available or for those for whom purchasing coverage creates an exceptional financial hardship. The minimum penalty to accomplish the goal of enhancing participation in qualifying coverage will be no no more than $750 per year. Individuals deemed to lack availability to affordable coverage (as determined in section 3103), Indians, individuals living in states where Gateways are not yet established, and individuals without coverage for fewer than 90 days are exempt from the penalty. (§ 161, 59B)

Most legislators read the conceptual language summary of the legislation and not the actual bill.

Why? Because they don't understand the legalese. The problem with a summary is that it's written to describe only the intent of the legislation, not necessarily the implementation. Certain details may be selectively omitted. The summary then becomes a subjective document, no longer an accurate portrayal of the legislation.

What's missing in the example above? Section 152 "Voluntary Authorization for Income Verification." It is nowhere in the summary document. Sounds very similar to another part of the same code: our "voluntary compliance" income tax system (video).

What other details from the 839-page legislation were left out of the 25-page summary?