Health Care? What does your Congressman say?

Last year, President Obama rushed through Congress a sweeping,  $1 trillion health care "reform" law that will result in massive job losses,  higher insurance premiums and taxes, deep cuts to Medicare, and a staggering increase in the budget deficit.  For these reasons, and many more, I voted to repeal the budget- busting, job-destroying health care law. The bill, H.R. 2, passed the House on January 19 by a vote of 245-189. It now goes to the  Senate, which I hope will consider it quickly. When the President's health care proposal was being considered in  Congress, one advocate said that Congress had to pass the bill to find out what's in it. Well, we've seen what it's in it: devastating  consequences for our economy and our fiscal stability. Don't just take my word for it. Over 200 economists, including a Nobel Laureate, recently wrote to Congressional leaders that the health care law levies  roughly $500 billion in new taxes that will raise the cost of medical  services.  Additionally, it could raise the budget deficit by more than $500 billion over the next ten years and nearly $1.5 trillion in the following decade. Supporters of the law claim that it reduces the deficit—an argument  supported only by gimmicks. The bill relies on 10 years of tax increases and Medicare cuts to pay for 6 years of new spending. Only in Washington!  Even the Obama Administration's own Medicare actuary and the independent, non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) found that the new law fails to lower health care costs or reduce the deficit,  as promised.  Bottom line: in order to create jobs and lower our crushing budget deficit, we need to repeal this law. While the repeal bill has passed the House of Representatives, it still must pass through the Senate, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid, and then be signed by the President. This will be difficult. In the meantime, though,  I will join my colleagues in the House in exposing how the law affects American families and small businesses. For example, the law creates nearly 160 new government board, bureaus, bureaucracies, and commissions.  Moreover, the federal government is expected to issue roughly 10,000  pages of regulations to govern its implementation. We'll also work to repeal some of the worst provisions of the law's worst provisions. Small businesses all over Oregon are irate about the excessive  burden of the infamous "1099 mandate," which forces businesses to file  1099 forms to the IRS for every purchase over $600. As a small business  owner in Oregon for nearly 22 years, I know what a heavy cost this would place on small businesses and entrepreneurs, and I've cosponsored a bill that will repeal this onerous provision.  The law doesn't just harm small businesses—seniors are hit hard too. Oregon has the highest Medicare Advantage penetration rate in the country; nearly  41,000 in the Second District have chosen Medicare Advantage as the plan that best meets their needs. Yet the law cuts $206 billion from Medicare Advantage and over $500 billion from the entire Medicare program, meaning higher premiums and reduced benefits for Oregon seniors. Republicans have a plan that would allow you to keep the insurance coverage that you like and cut premiums for some policy types by up to $3,200 per year, according to the Congressional Budget Office. We can introduce commonsense reforms like providing coverage for preexisting conditions or making it illegal for insurance companies to cancel someone's policy unless they have committed fraud, but we don't have to max out our children's and grandchildren's credit  cards to do it.  We should allow kids to stay on their parents' policies and let small businesses join together and buy health insurance across state lines—fostering greater  competition and, hopefully, lower premiums. Market forces at work can bring  health care costs down.  Meanwhile, medical malpractice reform can cut costs and protect jobs.  "Defensive medicine" occurs when doctors are forced to conduct tests and dispense prescriptions that aren't medically necessary. It's no wonder that the Harvard School of Public Health estimates that 40 percent of medical  malpractice suits in the U.S. are "without merit." The CBO estimates that  medical malpractice reform would save taxpayers $54 billion over the next 10 years. Moreover, it will protect hardworking medical personnel from the threat of frivolous lawsuits.  Thank you for allowing me to update you on my support of repealing President Obama's health care plan. It's an honor to represent you in the U.S. Congress.

Best regards, Greg Walden Member of Congress What do you Obama/Obama Care Liberals think now? Stop with your dreams of utopia and get real before America has no more dreams, except for what once was! ... ...