WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jason Chaffetz issued the following statement after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and House Democrats unveiled their 1,990-page trillion-dollar government takeover of health care:
“If you think Health Care is expensive now, wait until it is free.” –George Will
It is clear that Americans want health care insurance reform. But they also want their elected leaders to get it right. Health care comprises close to 17% of our nation’s economy. The intended and unintended consequences of reform affect every American citizen.
Today, House Democrats introduced their bill, H.R. 3962. Paramount to making the right decision is having enough time to digest and understand the 1,990 pages and 111 new government programs and agencies created by the bill. Many unanswered questions still remain regarding the cost and effects of this bill.
The President has said that any health care reform plan that passes Congress must not add “one dime to the deficit.” The CBO estimates the Democrats’ healthcare proposal will cost $1.3 trillion dollars. Like it or not, someone has to pay for this $1.3 trillion dollar program. The simple, unavoidable question that we need to ask is, who pays? Do we really believe that this $1.3 trillion plan will not add to the deficit, especially considering that Congress has consistently underestimated the costs of new government health programs? And then there is the $245 billion “doc fix” which covers Medicare payments to doctors which is not even included in the $1.3 trillion cost. And if all of this does not somehow add to the deficit, how much will Americans see their taxes—of already scarce income—increase?
The Democrat proposal includes $729 billion in tax increases over ten years. This massive tax increase will be in addition to hundreds of billions of dollars in cap-and-trade tax increases. When the Bush tax cuts expire in 2011, we can look forward to additional tax increases of several hundred billion dollars. If the Democrats prevail, Americans could be paying an additional $1 trillion to $2 trillion in taxes between 2011 and 2020.
The Democrat proposal to dramatically increase Medicaid enrollment imposes severe burdens on state governments since state governments will be expected to pay 9% of the expansion’s cost. State governments, which are required to balance their budgets, already face daunting fiscal challenges.
The President also mentioned that “Medicare is a government program that works really well,” making it a model for national health care. However, Medicare and Medicaid are just a few years away from bankruptcy. They pay doctors so little that many doctors simply don’t treat those patients. Is the model for the new government insurance program unsustainable? How can we trust this plan will actually work? With Medicare as the model how can it honestly be deficit-neutral? How can it provide Americans adequate care when doctors can’t afford to treat them?
One of the core questions Americans are asking is who is going to control American’s health care decisions? Big government or physicians? We must protect the doctor-patient relationship. No Washington bureaucrat should ever come between patients and their doctors.
In order to pay for the public option, the Democrats’ health care plan requires an individual mandate. This government-forced insurance sets a dangerous precedent. It removes Americans’ right to make their own decisions about their own health. The government has no right to make these decisions for us. I am also opposed to forcing people to pay into the program. We should not punish Americans by taxing them for choosing not to buy coverage.
Conceptually I am opposed to a one-size-fits-all federally-run health care plan. Reform should be driven through the states. Washington mandates are not tailored to each state’s unique population. A comprehensive solution to health reform in many cases should be left to governors and state legislatures. Each state is different. What works for one state may not work for another. In general, states are in a much better position to address America’s health reform needs. Much of the success in health care will come from innovative states such as Utah, where we have one of the lowest health care costs per capita in the nation.
Health reform must also include a greater focus on preventing waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement by promoting greater access to information, prevention, and wellness for all Americans. Medicaid fraud and mismanagement waste is rampant. Reforms must bring about efficiency, transparency, and results. This should be done now, regardless of the proposed bill.
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