Health Care Reform Alert: The Charades Continue
Senator John Cornyn
Just like the previous bills, the President’s proposal would still level significant premium increases on American families. Worse yet, the President’s proposal spends $75 billon more than the Senate bill to do it.
Not only is the President’s bill more expensive, instead of fixing the government programs already in existence, it exacerbates their problems. Half of those gaining coverage under the President’s plan would get it through Medicaid, a government-run program whose patients aren’t even able to see two out of three doctors in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The Medicaid expansion would cost Texans more than $24 billion over a 10-year period. And, the bill doesn’t fix the 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement rates to physicians, which will jeopardize seniors’ access to care if not fixed.
Despite the clear objection from the American people, Democratic leadership in Washington will now force through this bill using a highly partisan tactic known as reconciliation. This inside-the-beltway procedure was designed to facilitate deficit reduction—not enable Washington to create new massive, multi-trillion dollar entitlement programs.
This week the President made it clear he supports this hyper-partisan tool. This is coming from the same President who promised he would be ‘post-partisan’ and who also said on numerous occasions that health care reform should not be passed using reconciliation.
Before a reconciliation bill can happen, the House of Representatives must first pass the Senate health care overhaul. This means every Member of the House will be on record supporting a Senate bill laden with sweetheart deals and political payoffs, all of which were included by Senate Democratic leadership in exchange for 60 votes in the Senate. In order for reconciliation to work, 217 House Members will have to vote for the $300 million Louisiana Purchase, the Cornhusker Kickback, Gator Aid for Florida, and $100 million for a new hospital in Connecticut. The House will have passed a bill that burdens hardworking Americans with new taxes on their health benefits and allows federal funding of abortion for the first time in American history, all without assurance that the special deals will be removed from the final bill.
Democratic leadership in Washington has had control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for over a year. The fact that their bill has not yet been enacted indicates that concern with a potential Washington takeover of health care isn’t just coming from Republicans, it’s also coming from Democrats and Independents.
Democrats have resorted to sweeteners and sneaky parliamentary tactics because their underlying bill is a risky experiment that will increase costs and skyrocket spending in our health care system. No matter how the Democrats dress it up or dress it down, repackage it or put a new spin on it – the American public is in unified objection to this approach. The people have been clear from the beginning: they want Washington to start over and enact incremental, common-sense reforms that lower costs and reduce spending.
Popularity: 3% [?]
