news

Congressman Bill Posey (R-Rockledge) submitted the following statement into the Congressional record during today’s debate on the Majority’s 2,000 page, $1.5 Trillion government takeover of the health care industry:

“I rise to express my deep concerns not only about the specific provisions in the bill before us, but over the lack of transparency and openness throughout this process.

“In just a few short hours, the U.S. House of Representatives will vote on the most sweeping changes ever in our nation’s health care system. The final version of this bill, including last minute amendments, was made available to Members of Congress just a few short hours ago. The final text of this bill has not been made available to the public or Members of Congress for at least 72 hours.

“I believe that when the Congress considers changes of this magnitude which will affect 17 percent of our entire economy, we should have more transparency and openness. I will be voting against H.R. 3962, not only because of the many provisions I find objectionable, but also because of the lack of transparency about what it is specifically that we are voting on.

“The House should not be considering or passing this 2,000-page bill which has not even been subjected to a single committee hearing. Over 200 amendments were filed to this 2,000-page bill. Sadly, out of these 200 amendments, only one is allowed to be offered.

“Now, let me turn to some specific concerns with the bill.

“H.R. 3962 is the wrong prescription for our economy. Yesterday, the Department of Labor reported that the national unemployment rate hit a 26-year record high of 10.2%. Florida’s unemployment rate is above 11%. Furthermore, as reported in this morning’s New York Times, the broadest measure of underemployment and unemployment reached 17.5%, which is higher than the record 17.1% reached at the height of the 1982 recession.

“This is the wrong time to be considering legislation that will cost us jobs. The hundreds of billions of dollars of higher taxes and the unfunded mandates that H.R. 3962 places on small businesses will result in the elimination of between 4 and 5 million American jobs. That is the estimated job loss as measured using a formula developed President Obama’s own Chief Economic Advisor, Kathleen Romer. This would be in addition to the estimated 2.5 million jobs that would be lost if the Cap and Trade National Energy Tax legislation is enacted into law. (Estimated job loss by the Heritage Foundation.)

“Small businesses across America create nearly 65% of all new jobs and this bill’s eight percent employer health care tax is only going to make it that much harder for small business to create jobs. H.R. 3962’s provision to impose a $500,000 fine for inadvertent errors will only serve to bankrupt many small businesses.

“America cannot afford this bill. They cannot afford more legislation that will lead to higher unemployment. The American people need legislation that promotes job creation, not legislation that will stifle the creation of American jobs.

“H.R. 3962 is excessively costly and completely unaffordable. Washington just ended the year with a record $1.4 Trillion debt. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates trillion dollars deficits as far as the eye can see. Our nation’s debt is so serious that in May the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury had to fly to China to ensure that the Chinese would continue to purchase our U.S. Treasury notes and to assure them that Washington would get serious about getting its fiscal house in order.

“Sadly, this health care bill creates a new unaffordable entitlement program that we cannot afford and will indebt future generations of Americans for decades to come.

“CBO says of H.R. 3962 that it “would put into effect (or leave in effect) a number of procedures that might be difficult to maintain over a long period of time.” In other words, this bill creates serious long-term budget problems for our nation.

“The President said in his September address to Congress and the nation that health care reform legislation would not exceed more than $900 billion. Unfortunately, when you assemble all of the pieces of this health care agenda together, you come up with a price tag of nearly $1.6 Trillion for the first ten years of this bill – 56% above the $900 billion cap. This includes CBO’s $1.05 trillion cost estimate for H.R. 3962 and the $209 billion for the Medicare doctor fix. Further increasing the cost is the Administrations $70 Billion Medicare adjustment, more than $200 billion in discretionary spending required in the future as a result of H.R. 3962, and more than $34 billion in unfunded Medicaid mandates on the states ($1 billion for Florida as estimated by the state).

“Furthermore, when you consider that the costs of H.R. 3962 begin to significantly increase in 2014, thus a more accurate ten year cost estimate for the bill (2014-2014) shows a cost of $2.4 Trillion. H.R. 3962 sets us up for a serious budget challenges for 2020 and will indebt our children for decades to come.

“H.R. 3962 will have an adverse impact on Medicare recipients. I am very concerned about the nearly $500 billion in cuts that H.R. 3962 makes to Medicare. This, I believe will have a long-term negative impact on Medicare. Taking the money out of Medicare only makes the challenge of averting Medicare’s projected 2017 insolvency more difficult. Furthermore, those hardest hit are likely to be seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, including over 42,000 seniors in my Congressional District who are enrolled in MA plans. Many of these seniors would lose their current Medicare plan and be forced back into the traditional Medicare fee-for-service plan, which will cost them more money and less coordination of their care.

“Failure to buy government approved plan can result in fines and jail time. A November 5, 2009, letter from the Joint Committee on Taxation affirmed that if an American citizen fails to purchase a government approved health care plan or pay the mandatory 2.5% national health care tax, they will be subject to federal penalties which may include up to five years and a fine of up to $25,000. It is simply unthinkable that Washington would enact legislation carrying such mandates and penalties, but that is what H.R. 3962 would do. Such coercion is wrong and quite frankly runs counter to the freedoms and liberties that have made this nation what it is today.

“The American people should be allowed to choose whatever health care plan they want. They should not be restricted to only buying health insurance that Congress or an unelected group of bureaucrats say you can buy.

“The word “shall” is included more than 3,400 times throughout H.R. 3962. Shall is a term used in legislative language to mandate what can or cannot be done. With the use of the word “shall” more than 3,400 times, the choices and liberties of the American people to choose what they want are clearly undermined. Clearly, these mandates seriously undermine and change the health care that 80% of Americans have today and want to keep.

“Illegal Immigrants Covered Under H.R. 3962. It is wrong to use taxpayer dollars to subsidize the enrollment of illegal immigrants into this new government plan. While H.R. 3962 includes language stating that funding in the bill cannot be used to enroll illegal immigrants in the national health care plan, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, CBO, and the Social Security Administration all agree that the provisions in H.R. 3962 are insufficient to actually prevent their enrollment in taxpayer subsidized health care. Millions of illegal immigrants will receive taxpayer subsidies for enrollment in subsidized health care plans.

“Other Concerns. The American people were told earlier this year that health care reform legislation would lower their average health care costs by about $2,500 dollars. H.R. 3962 does just the opposite. Estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation, the CBO, and six other studies show that imposing new taxes on insurance policies, as H.R. 3962 does, will drive up the cost of medical coverage.

“We were told that health care reform was needed in order to lower the overall amount of spending on health care. However, according to the CBO, “On balance, during the decade following the 10-year budget window, the bill would increase both federal outlays for health care and the federal budgetary commitment to health care, relative to amounts under current law.” So, H.R. 3962 will actually result in more spending on health care rather than less.

“I oppose the provisions in H.R. 3962, which would use taxpayer dollars to pay for elective abortions and subsidize enrollment in health insurance plans that pay for elective abortions. H.R. 3962 would for the first time use taxpayer dollars to subsidize elective abortions and expand mandate that insurance coverage of elective abortion be expanded to every jurisdiction in the country. I oppose this mandate, but I am supportive of the Stupak/Smith amendment, which will remove from this bill any expansion of taxpayer funding for abortions.

“Health Care Solutions. I was greatly disappointed that the debate in the House was so severely restricted as only one of more than 200 amendments was allowed. This is truly a sad day for the American people as constructive contributions to health care reform have been silenced.

“We should focus on creating more choices for the American people, not less. Rather than move in the direction of more choices and increased competition, H.R. 3962 undermines choice in many ways. By creating a national Health Benefits Advisory Committee (HBAC), H.R. 3962 creates a one-size-fits-all set of benefits with which every health plan in America must conform. Estimates are that millions of Americans will be moved into this new government health care plan, losing the coverage that they currently have and want to keep.

“There are steps that can be taken - without reducing these choices - to address the concerns of those who lack coverage or who have difficulties paying for the coverage they want. We should expand the deductibility of health insurance for all Americans. Refundable health care tax credits of $2,500 for an individual or $5,500 for a family will enable working Americans to secure affordable health care coverage and empower them to choose the type of coverage that meets their needs.

“Enactment of Association Health Plan (AHP) legislation would make it easier for small businesses to pool together and negotiate with insurance providers for the purchase of more affordable insurance for their employees. Similarly, nonprofit civic groups should be empowered to create health plans and offer them to their members and the public. Sadly, liberals in the Congress have blocked these efforts for the past decade.

“Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) should be expanded enabling more individuals to purchase a high deductible health plan while also putting money aside in an HSA to cover medical expenses below the catastrophic coverage cap. For many, this would be a more affordable alternative to traditional insurance and over 8 million Americans have chosen to enroll in HSAs in just the past five years. For those with preexisting conditions or who otherwise have difficulty finding affordable coverage, we should expand high-risk insurance pools and other approaches to make sure that those with such challenges are able to find affordable coverage.

“Community health centers, like the ones I recently visited throughout my district, can play an important role in serving those in need of affordable medical care. These centers provide cost-effective primary care and preventive care to millions of lower- and lower-middle-income Americans, and we should continue to encourage their development and expansion.

“Expanding health care coverage also means taking steps to reduce waste in medical care expenditures. One of the main factors behind greatly increasing costs of health care premiums is the skyrocketing cost associated with medical malpractice. H.R. 3962 does nothing to move us in the direction of adopting medical malpractice solutions that have proven successful in many states.”