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STEARNS ENDORSES ALTERNATIVE HEALTHCARE PLAN THAT WOULD EXPAND COVERAGE BY LOWERING COSTS
CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE FINDS PLAN WOULD REDUCE THE FEDERAL DEFICIT BY $68 BILLION & LOWER INSURANCE PREMIUMS BY UP TO 10 PERCENT
Washington,
Nov 5, 2009 -
“We need to focus on reducing the cost of healthcare premiums so that coverage becomes more affordable and accessible,” stated Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Sixth). “Instead of imposing the new mandates, penalties, and taxes included in the Pelosi bill, this alternative plan would lower insurance premiums by up to 10 percent while increasing the quality of care and expanding coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.”
Stearns has endorsed the Republican Plan, the Common Sense Healthcare Reform & Affordability Act*, a substitute to H.R. 3962, the healthcare bill developed by Speaker of the House Pelosi. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports** that the substitute would reduce federal deficits by $68 billion over 10 years. In addition, CBO notes that it also would reduce average private health insurance premiums in the small group market, for individually purchased insurance, and in the large group market.
Added Stearns, “This measure is 219 pages compared with 2,000 for the Pelosi Bill, that’s nearly 10 times as many pages with mandates, red tape, and new bureaucracies. Also, add in the Democrat Manager’s Amendment and the Majority’s Rule for the bill’s consideration, and we are facing some 2,500 pages.”
The major provisions of the alternative plan includes establishing Universal Access Programs to guarantee access to affordable care for those with pre-existing conditions; ending costly junk lawsuits and curbing defensive medicine by enacting medical liability reforms; preventing insurers from unjustly cancelling a policy or instituting annual or lifetime spending caps; allowing Americans to buy insurance across state lines; and giving small businesses the power to pool together and offer healthcare at lower prices, just as corporations and labor unions do.
* Link to Republican Bill
http://rules-republicans.house.gov/Media/PDF/RepublicanAlternative3962_9.pdf
**Link to CBO Report
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10705/hr3962amendmentBoehner.pdf
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