Health Care Update
IRVING,
Aug 1, 2009 -
As members of Congress go home for the August district work period to listen
to their constituents concerns regarding health care (and other issues), I’d
like to take this opportunity to update you on what has happened thus far
regarding the health care bill(s) and my concerns with the legislation that will
likely be brought to the floor for a vote in the fall.
On Tuesday, July 14th, the House Democrats unveiled their health care bill
(H.R. 3200, authored by Rep. John Dingell (D) of Michigan). As is customary, it
was referred to the committees with jurisdiction over health care: Education
& Labor (Chaired by Rep. George Miller (D) of California); Ways & Means
(Chaired by Rep. Charlie Rangel (D) of New York); and Energy & Commerce
(Chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D) of California). By Friday, July 17th, less
than 3 days later, both the Education & Labor and Ways & Means
Committees passed their pieces of the 1,000+ page bill. On July 31st, the Energy
& Commerce passed their piece of the bill by a vote of 31 to 28 with five
committee Democrats joining all committee Republicans in opposition. If you’d
like to read the bill as well as the amendments offered (both those that passed
and those that were rejected), please click here.
Primary Concerns
I have two primary concerns regarding H.R. 3200 – and a few others which I
will also touch on. First, the bill does nothing to bend the cost curve down
either in the near term or long term. If, as the President says, our current
spending on health care is unsustainable, then merely passing a “reform” bill
that is deficit neutral does nothing but maintain the status quo AND leave us in
the same predicament the President says is unsustainable. In the case of H.R.
3200, however, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said in its analysis
that H.R. 3200 is not only not deficit neutral, but actually adds significantly
to the deficit. Secondly, I believe the government-run option included in this
bill (which I do not support) will eventually lead to a government takeover of
health care through a single-payer system resulting in rationing and
inefficiency the likes of which are unfathomable. With the federal government
now running much of private industry including our banks and auto companies, I
hardly think now (or ever, for that matter) is the time to create a need for yet
another czar. As Medicare and Medicaid have shown (albeit in smaller
proportions), government is never the place to look for cost-control or
cost-cutting. And, the $1 trillion price tag is likely just a starting point
since costs projected in government programs rarely, if ever, come in as
initially forecasted. In Great Britain, for instance, their National Health
Service (which employs a plethora of administrators) is now the third largest
employer on the planet behind China’s army and Indian National Railways. Surely,
an American National Health Service would become the world’s largest.
Other Areas of Great Concern Presented by H.R. 3200
• Tax increases on small businesses and fines imposed on small
businesses for not providing “acceptable” coverage as deemed by the
newly-created “Health Care Commissioner”
• Government-directed rationing used to deny payment for even basic
treatments and drugs which will negatively impact seniors the most
• Americans will be dumped from their employer-based insurance on to
government-run plans as businesses look to cut costs even though most Americans
are happy with their insurance
• No identification requirement for new government health care
benefits, further incentivizing more illegal immigration and increasing costs to
taxpayers
• No explicit guarantee in the legislation that government-run health
care will exclude taxpayer-financed abortions
• Lack of any medical liability reform will likely lead to more
cost-shifting and eventually result in a physician shortage as continuing to
practice medicine becomes cost-prohibitive
Thousands of you have contacted me about two other ancillary issues of
import. I have signed Let Freedom Ring’s “Responsible Health Care Reform Pledge”
which simply states that I will not vote to enact any health care reform package
unless: (1) I have read it personally and in its entirety and (2) the final
version has been available to the American public online at least 72 hours in
advance. Considering the debacle of the massive “stimulus” and “cap & trade”
which were both rammed through the House in less than 15 hours, I think this is
a bare minimum that should be expected. I also feel strongly, as many of you do,
that any member of Congress who votes for this a government-run option should
forgo their participation in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program
(FEHBP) and enroll in the new government-run option. For this reason, I have
cosponsored Rep. John Fleming’s resolution (H.Res. 615).You can access the
resolution here.
The organization chart of the H.R. 3200 health care bureaucratic nightmare
can be accessed here.
Real Reform I Support
Over the last several months, I have provided links to health care reform
plans that I support which achieve the goals that I believe all Americans share,
namely: (1) providing affordable access to coverage for all Americans regardless
of preexisting conditions; (2) incentivizing healthier living; (3) expanding
choice through portability; (4) improving the health care delivery structure;
and (5) cutting costs by ending fraud in Medicare and Medicaid and instituting
real medical liability reform. I believe we can achieve these goals by utilizing
a truly free market model with minimal government interference.
The following are two bills I support which achieve the aforementioned
goals:
H.R. 2520 Patients Choice Act (authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R) of
Wisconsin)
Short
Summary
Long Summary
Q&A
Text
of Legislation
H.R. 3400 Empowering Patients First Act (authored by Rep. Tom Price (R) of
Georgia)
Short
Summary
Detailed
Summary
Text
of Legislation
