ICYMI: What They Are Saying About the House Democratic Bill
Posted by The Campaign on November 07, 2009 at 11:35 AM
What They Are Saying on House Democratic Bill
Many elected leaders are speaking out against the House Democratic reform proposal because it does not do enough to control costs and in fact increases costs for individuals, families and employers.
Below find some of the comments from these elected officials:
Rep. Allen Boyd: "While the House bill does take some positive steps toward increasing coverage and reforming insurance regulations, it simply falls short when it comes to lowering healthcare costs for North Florida families and businesses. Improving our healthcare system is of utmost importance to me, but meaningful reform must reduce the skyrocketing cost of healthcare services. Until I have confidence that a healthcare reform bill will effectively curb rising healthcare costs and ease the burdensome pressure millions of Americans feel when paying their healthcare premiums or doctor bills, I cannot in good faith support this bill."
Rep. Glenn Nye: "Health care costs are crippling our small businesses and forcing families into bankruptcy, and any reform plan needs to reduce those costs. Although this version of the bill takes important steps to lower the deficit in the short term, the CBO has said that it does not address the fundamental problem of reducing skyrocketing health care costs. Small businesses are facing increases of ten to twenty percent in their health care premiums each year, and I am not convinced that this bill would fix that problem next year or the year after."
Rep. Mike McIntyre: "The need for health care reform is clear, but the focus should be on lowering the skyrocketing costs of health care, bringing down the cost of premiums, and ensuring access and affordability of health care for all. During these tough economic times, I could not support this bill because it was flawed in four major ways:
1. It costs way too much money - more than $1 trillion dollars on top of a $12 trillion national debt;
2. It does not take the steps necessary to effectively bring down long-term health care costs;
3. It raises too much in new taxes and imposes new requirements that will harm the ability of too many small businesses to compete and create jobs; and
4. It tries to do too much too soon instead of targeted changes that can immediately help people."
Rep. Eric Massa: "...the bill ‘fails to address the fundamental question before the American people, and that is, how do you control the costs of health care?'"
Rep. Frank Kratovil: "...I am still concerned that this bill does not do enough to bend the long-term cost curve..."
Rep. Brian Baird: "To insist that members vote on this legislation without having cost estimates of Medicare and Medicaid impacts ... or an estimate of premium impacts from the Congressional Budget Office seems premature and unwise."
