U.S. Congressman Steve Buyer | Proudly Serving Hoosiers in Indiana's 4th District

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Washington, Nov 7, 2009 -

Washington, D.C. — Democrat Leaders in Washington have called health care reform a national priority requiring the best minds to solve, but on Saturday the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping, government run health care bill, H.R. 3962.  The legislation allows the government to take control of one-sixth of the American economy, calling into question the true intent of the bill:  an effort to reform our nation’s health care system or partisan legislation designed to expand the federal government’s presence in Americans’ everyday lives. Opposed to the Washington take over of health care, Congressman Steve Buyer’s (IN-04) supported the Republican alternative to H.R. 3962, the Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute—legislation focused on lowering health care costs without adding a dime to the nation’s growing deficit. 

“The President and Democrat leadership in Congress are not listening to their constituencies.  The U.S. unemployment rate has surged to 10.2 percent, the highest level in 26 years.  This astounding level of unemployment tells only part of the story about the struggling American families that Washington leaders continue to ignore,” stated Buyer.  “It simply is not credible to ask the American people to believe we are spending over one trillion dollars on a government health care plan that is budget neutral.  The question Hoosiers need to ask is, ‘Who pays?’  The simple fact is that middle class families and small businesses, which just financed an 800 billion dollar Wall Street slush fund, will be paying over one trillion dollars to fund legislation that will increase the cost of health care in America.

“We need health care reform that works for all Hoosiers and provides real help regarding access and cost.  People on both sides of the aisle agree that we need to improve access and costs.  However, our current government programs, Social Security and Medicare, are in financial despair.  Instead of working to fix these programs and ensure that they can continue to provide for future generations of seniors, the Democrat leadership is committed to creating another entitlement program and placing trillions of dollars in debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren,” Buyer said. 

Congressman Buyer said Washington traditionally has a poor history of cost containment, “It is pure fantasy to think this bill does not raise costs on small businesses and middle class families.  The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation says that 1 out of every 3 dollars raised by the surtax in H.R. 3962 will come from small businesses—the economic engines of our economy.  The bill fails to reign in out-of-control health care spending and to address the concerns that families and businesses across America have with the sharply increasing costs of health insurance.”

H.R. 3962 will significantly impact seniors’ health care choices.  “This bill cuts Medicare.  Seniors rely upon this program and it is wrong for Washington to take hundreds of billions of dollars out of it to fund a new government program that is expected to serve less than 2 percent of the population.  Those of us who represent rural areas understand the choices of benefits that seniors in Medicare Advantage enjoy, and Congress should not limit seniors access to health care programs in order to fund the more 100 new government bureaucracies and programs created in H.R. 3962.” 

“Hoosiers deserve adequate health care coverage.  The creation of a government-run insurance program that could cause as many as 114 million Americans to lose their current coverage, as written in H.R. 3962, lacks sound policies which ensure families can keep their current health insurance if they like it,” stated Buyer.  “Congress should focus on fixing what is wrong with the nation’s health care delivery system first:  providing coverage to the uninsured, protecting Americans living with preexisting conditions, encouraging preventive care, promoting wellness programs, protecting the patient-doctor relationship, and making health insurance more affordable for all Americans.” 

The House Democrat plan was drafted behind closed doors with little input from the public or most Members of Congress.  The bill is nearly 2000 pages and combines, provisions of H.R. 3200 approved by the Committees on Education and Labor, Energy and Commerce, and Ways and Means earlier this summer.   The bulk of the bill ignited a summer of emotional town hall meetings across the country where large numbers of people rose in opposition to the government-run insurance plan. 

Congressman Buyer understands that substantive reforms are needed to improve the nation’s health care system.  Such reforms include lowering health care premiums, guarantying access to affordable care for those with pre-existing conditions, preventing insurance companies from unjustly cancelling policies, and allowing small businesses to pool together to offer health care at lower prices to their employees.  These provisions are included in the House Republicans’ health care reform legislation, H.R. 4038, the Common Sense Healthcare Reform and Affordability Act, which was the only Republican amendment allowed consideration on the House floor.  The measure failed by a vote of 176 to 258.  Congressman Buyer is a cosponsor of this legislation and voted in favor of its passage on the House floor.

“If Medicare is the model for government-health care, how can the White House and House Democrats tell us that their health care plan will not increase our deficit in the long-run?  In 1965, the government promised that Medicare Part A would cost $9 billion by 1990.  The actual cost was $66 billion, over seven times the projected cost.    The Democrats’ health care plan is deceptive.  It begins raising taxes and cutting Medicare immediately, while the majority of benefits don’t begin until 2016, and their true cost is not realized until 2019.  The Democrats’ plan is to tax first and pay later.”  When the bill is fully implemented, the cost will amount to $2.4 trillion over ten years.

Speaker Pelosi’s bill, H.R. 3962 will cut $500 billion from the Medicare program and impose $135 billion in taxes on employers and $33 billion in taxes on individuals.  $162 billion are raised from cuts to the Medicare Advantage programs which serve 126,000 Hoosiers and nearly 11 million Americans Since 2004, enrollment in these programs in rural areas has grown significantly—since 2004 over one million beneficiaries in rural areas joined the MA program (a 507 percent increase).

“There are improvements that can be made to Medicare Advantage, but I believe it is an important private market innovation within the Medicare program—providing important health coverage options to seniors,” Buyer added.  “If these cuts are enacted, tens of thousands of seniors in Indiana would stand to lose their Medicare Advantage coverage.”

Additionally, as Ranking Member of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, Congressman Buyer worked to ensure that veterans’ and servicemembers’ health care choices and benefits were not harmed by H.R. 3962.  Previous amendments to protect veterans were incorporated in the bill; however not all concerns were addressed.  The Congressman offered three amendments relating to veterans and servicemembers.  The first would ensure that veterans and servicemembers have the choice to obtain health insurance in the insurance exchange created by H.R. 3962.  The second would preserve the authorities of the Secretaries of Veterans’ Affairs and the Department of Defense over their respective health care systems.  The third amendment would allow veterans and servicemembers, just like all Americans, to receive tax credits to purchase insurance if they live below 400% of the federal poverty level.  All three of these amendments were rejected by the Committee on Rules and were not considered on the House Floor. 

Congressman Buyer also continued his efforts to expand employer sponsored wellness programs by offering an amendment to provide employers with greater flexibility to increase incentives for employees to participate in wellness programs.  Such programs have been successful in lowering health care costs for employers and employees alike while encouraging healthy behaviors.  Amendments similar to Congressman Buyer’s have received strong bipartisan support in the Senate.  Unfortunately, the Committee on Rules denied Congressman Buyer the chance to bring his amendment to the House Floor.  “If we are serious about bending our nation’s health care cost curve, we should be employing commonsense proposals like wellness programs which have successfully saved companies millions of dollars in health care costs.  . 

Only two amendments were accepted by the Committee on Rules for consideration on the House floor: the Pitts/Stupak amendment to prohibit taxpayer-funded abortion and the Republican health care reform proposal.  Congressman Buyer voted in favor of both amendments. 

Congressman Buyer voted against H.R. 3962 which passed the House by a vote 220 to 215 and continues to oppose a government takeover of our nation’s health care system. 

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