YOU First Act [Draft]

YouFirst180a

Below is a draft of proposed legislation to compel Congress to test and pilot any major healthcare reform before enacting law.

Key concepts:

  • A two year pilot program for any legislation that has an overall financial impact of over $100 million.
  • No legislation can move forward without a report to Congress on pilot findings, feasibility study and recommendations at the end of the two year pilot.
  • A specific sample group to be used as the population for any pilot. What group? Well, Congress has direct authority over a few, select populations: Federal employees, Postal workers, Members of Congress, District of Columbia employees and District of Columbia legal residents. That group.

-:-

A BILL

To require that any healthcare or healthcare reform legislation estimated to have major fiscal impact be first tested in a controlled pilot program in order to provide Congress with proof of concept and feasibility recommendations.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the Healthcare Reform Testing and Feasibility Act of 2009.

SEC. 2. TESTING AND FEASIBILTY OF HEALTHCARE LEGISLATION

Congress shall pass no law which attempts to significantly affect, overhaul or reform national healthcare which will cause major fiscal impact without first authorizing a two year pilot program utilizing a specified control group and requiring a full pilot program report, feasibility study and legislative recommendation.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS

a). major fiscal impact: legislation would either impact the federal budget or impact private industry in excess of a total of $100 million as estimated by the Congressional Budget Office

b). pilot program: a fully operational implementation of guidelines set forth in legislation and implemented utilizing the healthcare programs and healthcare needs of a control group for an active period of two years. A full report to Congress shall be made within six months of the conclusion of the two year pilot.

c). specified control group: program sample control group shall consist of a population of approximately 10 million people and a population for which Congress has specific oversight authority. This group shall be composed of:

(1) Federal employees covered by Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) administered by the Office of Personnel Management. In addition, collective bargaining agreements shall be renegotiated (Postal Employees and others) to accommodate participation in this program. Members of Congress participating in FEHBP are not exempt from this pilot program. (Approximately 8.5 million people are covered by FEHBP with annual payments of approximately $25 billion.)

(2) Employees of the District of Columbia covered by health benefits program administered by the District of Columbia Department of Human Resources. (Approximately 50,000 employees.)

(3) Legal residents of the District of Columbia (Approximately 591,833 legal residents).  Illegal alien residents shall be included for any portions of proposed legislation that may cover this group. (Approximately 40,000 illegal alien residents.)