U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions said that, while Senate Democrats say their health care reform will only cost $848 billion and essentially be budget neutral, Republicans say they have discovered that the true cost of the bill over the first 10 years would be closer to $2.5 trillion and would create billions of dollars in taxes on employers and the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
“Democrats sold the American people on health care reform as a wonder drug that would lower premiums for all, insure every American and reduce the deficit,” Sessions said. “Unfortunately, the actual legislation in the Senate doesn’t do that. Instead, it costs $2.5 trillion, increases premiums for many families, leaves 24 million Americans uninsured, raises taxes and cuts Medicare. The truth is the legislation simply doesn’t do what its supporters claim. It even fails the standards set by the same people who wrote it.”
Also worrisome to Republicans is the call for expansion of the government’s role in the health care sector if the Democrats’ proposed legislation is approved.
In fact U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is concerned the government-run plan, or “public option” in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s version of the health care reform bill could decrease competition in the insurance industry instead of increasing competition to help lower premiums.
“Speaker Pelosi’s $1 trillion health care bill, H.R. 3962, offers a government-run plan also known as a ‘public option’ that is supposed to compete with private insurance companies,” Rogers said. “The problem with this is, besides further expanding the federal government’s role, it actually incentivizes companies to drop their private insurance and force their employees into the ‘public option.’ Over time, it can only cause unfair competition with the private sector and ultimately threatens to force all Americans into the government-run plan.”
U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby is also concerned about government-controlled insurance, although his reasons have more to do with the process of receiving care rather than insurance premiums.
Shelby believes the United States has the finest doctors, first-rate treatments, cutting-edge innovation and low wait times that make it the best health care system in the world. He believes that is the foundation the current system should be built upon instead of “tearing down these strengths” with a massive reform.
A plan that cuts Medicare and raises taxes, according to Shelby, puts the burden of the reform squarely on the shoulders of the middle class, small businesses and the elderly.
He also said supporters of government-run medicine often cite Canada or Great Britain as models for the United States, but that those countries are forced to ration care or keep long waiting lists for medical treatment.
“More than 750,000 Britons are currently awaiting admission to the National Health Service hospitals,” Shelby said. “Last year, over half of Britons waited more than 18 weeks for care. The Frasier Institute, an independent Canadian research organization, reported in 2008 that the average wait time for a Canadian awaiting surgery or other medical treatment was 17.3 weeks, an increase of 86 percent since 1983. Access to a waiting list is not access to health care. Simply put, government financing means government control, and government control means less personal freedom.”
Sessions and Shelby are also concerned that the bill appears to cut physician pay as of 2011. Premiums could rise as much as 13 percent in 2016, and approximately $43 billion will be cut from the budgets of hospitals serving low-income individuals.
While the plan might also be depicted as an instant fix, nothing will be implemented until 2014. However, according to Sessions, some of the new taxes and fees begin immediately.
U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus voted against Pelosi’s health care legislation in favor of a Republican substitute that he believes would make health coverage more accessible and affordable without taking away Americans’ right to choose or making the deficit worse.
Pelosi’s “bill is about a new government bureaucracy making choices for us,” Bachus said. “We’re Americans. America is about freedom. Freedom is about making choices. Given the choice, I will always place my faith in the individual and not the government. The U.S. is the world’s largest economy. It is three times larger than Japan, our closest competitor, and it’s larger than the economies of Japan, China, Germany and Great Britain combined. We got there through innovation, choice, competition and individual initiative and responsibility — not government control and management.”
U.S. Rep. Artur Davis supports health care reform, but believes the House leadership does not have the best approach.
Davis hopes to find a bill that will fix the holes in the U.S. health care system and contains costs in the public and private sectors. He appears to be more supportive of the Senate’s proposed legislation than the House legislation.
“While the Senate Finance Committee bill needs work, there are three reasons it comes closer to achieving the real reform we need,” Davis said.
“First, the Senate bill tries to roll back some of the aggressive government subsidization of the private health care industry, a trend that has made that industry much too bloated and inefficient. Second, while there is no ideal way to raise new revenues, the Senate’s proposed tax on insurance companies is the best of the imperfect options. Finally, while the Senate does not mandate that companies insure their workers, their bill would make companies share with the government the cost of subsidizing any of their work force that is uninsured. In contrast, the House bill sets a mandate on businesses, but allows larger companies to walk away from it by paying a limited penalty. This will surely drive some companies to drop coverage they already provide.”
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