I noticed this item from the California GOP web site. Apparently, someone in the House Republic Conference went through Speaker Pelosi's health care bill H.3962, to identify all of the new government boards, bureaucracies, commissions and programs in the bill. The list stands at 111, including the following offices, departments, commissions, boards, working groups, etc.:

5. Health Benefits Advisory Committee (Section 223, p. 111) 6. Health Choices Administration (Section 241, p. 131) 7. Qualified Health Benefits Plan Ombudsman (Section 244, p. 138) 8. Health Insurance Exchange (Section 201, p. 155) 11. Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund (Section 307, p. 195) 12. State-based Health Insurance Exchanges (Section 308, p. 197) 15. Ombudsman for "Public Health Insurance Option" (Section 321(d), p. 213) 17. Telehealth Advisory Committee (Section 1191 (b), p. 589) 24. Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research (Section 1401(a), p. 734) 25. Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission (Section 1401(a), p. 738) 26. Patient ombudsman for comparative effectiveness research (Section 1401(a), p. 753) 34. Special Inspector General for the Health Insurance Exchange (Section 1647, p. 1000) 40. "Identifiable office or program" within CMS to "provide for improved coordination between Medicare and Medicaid in the case of dual eligibles" (Section 1905, p. 1191) 41. Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (Section 1907, p. 1198) 46. Public Health Workforce Corps (Section 2231, p. 1253) 52. Clinical Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1295) 53. Community Prevention Stakeholders Board (Section 2301, p. 1301) 58. Center for Quality Improvement (Section 2401, p. 1322) 59. Assistant Secretary for Health Information (Section 2402, p.. 1330) 67. University centers for excellence in developmental disabilities education (Section 2527(b), p. 1410) 77. Center for Emergency Care under the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (Section 2552, p. 1478) 78. Council for Emergency Care (Section 2552, p 1479) 81. Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee (Section 2562, p. 1494) 82. National Medical Device Registry (Section 2571, p. 1501) 86. Health and Human Services Coordinating Committee on Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1610) 87. National Women's Health Information Center (Section 2588, p.. 1611) 88. Centers for Disease Control Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1614) 89. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Office of Women's Health and Gender-Based Research (Section 2588, p. 1617) 90. Health Resources and Services Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1618) 91. Food and Drug Administration Office of Women's Health (Section 2588, p. 1621) 92. Personal Care Attendant Workforce Advisory Panel (Section 2589(a)(2), p. 1624) 98. Intergovernmental Task Force on Indian environmental and nuclear hazards (Section 3101, p. 1754) 99. Office of Indian Men's Health (Section 3101, p. 1765) 100.Indian Health facilities appropriation advisory board (Section 3101, p. 1774) 101.Indian Health facilities needs assessment workgroup (Section 3101, p. 1775) 110.Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1966) 111.Committee for the Establishment of the Native American Health and Wellness Foundation (Section 3103, p. 1968)

I count 40 of them. Perhaps my friends who support the President's health insurance reform agenda can explain to me how adding all of these new bureaucracies are going to lower our health care costs.

How can we call a program where the taxes start right away, but the benefits are delayed 4-6 years, deficit neutral? Won't the deficit start to rise after the first 10 years are complete unless we either raise taxes or lower benefits?

I would love to see a pilot medical insurance program where the government's involvement in health care reform has actually saved money. Certainly not Massachusetts. Perhaps there is another that I'm not familiar with. Shouldn't we have some small scale successes before we dedicated nearly a trillion dollars of someone else's money?

Finally, given our previous experience with Amtrack, the US Postal Service, the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies, how can I be expected to believe that more government involvement is going to lower costs.

The whole thing just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe it is just me. While our current health insurance system isn't perfect, shouldn't we be trying to focus on the parts that don't work rather than simply trying to replace the entire thing?