On June 6, 2012, CBO released its annual Long-Term Budget Outlook which detailed the impact that health care spending has on our economy. The report states that increases in health care spending “cannot continue indefinitely, because if they did, total spending on health care would eventually account for all of the country’s economic output—an impossible outcome.” This is yet another wake-up call by that we must put our nation’s health care programs on a sustainable course if we are going to avoid an even bigger crisis than we currently face.
On March 23, 2012, I released a statement on the two-year anniversary of President Obama’s health care law. It is now more clear than ever that this bill was based on nothing but a sting of broken promises, and the time has come to repeal and replace it with meaningful health reform that will actually reduce the cost of health care and provide coverage for all Americans.
On March 14, 2012, CBO issued a report stating that the President’s health care law will cost nearly $2 trillion - up almost a trillion dollars from last year’s estimates. In addition, CBO reported that the new health care law will cover 2 million fewer than the President promised.
On February 16, 2012, I, along with Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. introduced the Seniors’ Choice Act, a legislative proposal to help America’s seniors by building a stronger, more sustainable Medicare program through immediate and longer-term reforms. The Medicare program in its current form is unsustainable, and we have an obligation and opportunity to improve it for our nation’s seniors.
To ensure our nation continues to foster medical innovation, I cosponsored legislation (S. 17) to repeal the medical device tax, an onerous provision that will cost us jobs and harm patients. Read more about the medical device repeal legislation here.
On May 24, 2011, I signed onto the Small Business Health Relief Act, a bill to provide targeted relief from burdensome requirements placed on small businesses by the new health care law.
On May 19, 2011, Senator Coburn and I introduced the Medicaid Improvement and State Empowerment Act, a bill to reform the Medicaid program to improve care for patients and empower states with the flexibility and financial predictability that they need to strengthen their programs.
On April 5, 2011, the Senate passed a bill I cosponsored aimed at 1099 reform for small businesses. Read more about this bill here.
I also cosponsored legislation (S. 197) that would provide comprehensive medical liability reform.
On January 26, 2011 I joined my GOP colleagues in introducing legislation (S. 192) that would repeal the entire health care law. You can read my blog here. I also cosponsored bills to repeal two pillars of the new health care law: the individual mandate (S. 19) and employer mandate (S. 20).