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Health Care
America has long been home to the best health care and most advanced life-saving techniques in the world. What we have failed to do is make these achievements available to all Americans at a price that fits the budget of a middle class family. Because of this failure, we have seen costs skyrocket for both our families and our nation.
My vote for the landmark health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, was one of the most important choices of my lifetime. To reach a decision, I drew on numerous sources to gather all the information that I could. I read and studied the Senate legislation, the reconciliation bill, the nonpartisan financial findings from the Congressional Budget Office, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report on the cost of inaction. I spoke to several representatives of New York State and our immediate community, and met with Congressman Paul Ryan, one of the leading Republican opponents of these bills. I also held numerous meetings with Upstate New Yorkers from every walk of life – from the AARP to working families, from labor unions to tea party members who came to my offices, from small business owners to CEOs of community hospitals. When I could not meet with constituents face-to-face, I held a telephone town hall with 3,700 people, during which a quarter of participants said that health care costs was the top concern, but 44 percent were more concerned with jobs. My staff was available in all five of my offices where thousands of calls were logged. The concerns I heard from constituents demonstrated both the need for health care reform to lower costs and to help our entrepreneurs create jobs.
I voted for the legislation because I believe it was an important step toward addressing and correcting the concerns Upstate New York has regarding real health care reform. After studying all the facts, I was presented with a simple choice: Do nothing and further burden our families, our economy, and our entrepreneurs to the tune of $50 billion per year, or take the first steps to reform our system in a way that will pay for itself and help America pull itself out of the recession.
In short, I believe this bill will move America and our communities forward.
IMPACT ON NEW YORK:
As the bill was introduced, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce released a report on the impact that H.R. 4872 is expected to have on New York’s 23rd Congressional District. The committee found that approximately 405,000 North Country residents receive health care coverage. Under this health care reform, these policyholders would be able to keep the insurance they have, pay less for preventative care, and no longer have to worry about being denied for a claim based on pre-existing conditions or see limits on their coverage
The legislation is also one of the largest middle-class tax cuts in history, as it provides families with incomes up to $88,000 for a family of four with tax credits to help pay for coverage. In Upstate New York, there are more than 177,000 households that would qualify for this tax cut. In addition to saving families money, the bill will also reduce the cost of uncompensated care for community hospitals and local health care providers by $67 million annually.
In my first few months in office, I have introduced and cosponsored legislation to help small business owners create jobs and put Upstate New Yorkers back to work. H.R. 4872 would allow local small businesses to pool together and benefit from group rate insurance and a greater choice of providers. Northern New York small businesses with 25 employees or less will qualify for tax credits of up to half of their insurance costs. This will apply to 12,600 Upstate small businesses. The legislation will also provide funding for 12 community health centers, creating jobs and spurring economic development in the process.
IMPACT ON SENIORS
The Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act ensures our seniors will receive quality health care at a reasonable price. This legislation puts a stop to rising premiums and unfair practices by insurance companies who drop seniors from coverage because of age. It closes the donut hole within the decade and provides a $250 payment in 2010 for those enrolled in Medicare Part D for their prescription drug coverage. In addition, H.R. 4872 provides free preventative care under Medicare that will keep seniors healthier for longer. For a more comprehensive explanation of Health Care issues for Seniors, please click here.
REFORM IN LOCAL PRESS:
Plattsburgh Press Republican: AARP Sees Health Reform as Vital
Ogdensburg Journal: Prominent Area Doctor Defends Health Care Bill
Watertown Daily Times: Reform Doesn't Threaten TRICARE
Syracuse Post-Standard: Health Care Vote Most Critical in a Generation
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
HealthReform.gov: The Affordable Care Act's New Patient's Bill of Rights
Kaiser Family Foundation: Health Reform Law Summary and Implementation Timeline
Kaiser Family Foundation: Summary of Key Changes in Medicare Law
Kaiser Family Foundation: Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Provisions in the New Health Reform Law
The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act: full text of legislation as passed
Energy & Commerce Committee: H.R. 4872's Effect on Upstate New York
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: The Cost of Failure to Enact Health Reform: 2010-2020
HealthReform.gov: The Affordable Care Act's New Patient's Bill of Rights
Kaiser Family Foundation: Health Reform Law Summary and Implementation Timeline
Kaiser Family Foundation: Summary of Key Changes in Medicare Law
Kaiser Family Foundation: Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program Provisions in the New Health Reform Law
HEALTH CARE MYTHBUSTERS:
• FALSE CLAIM: Members of Congress exempted themselves from Health Care Reform.
• FACT: Section 1312 of the Affordable Care Act clearly states that Members of Congress and their staffs are required to participate in plans or state exchanges created by the health care bill. Section 1312, Part D can be found here.
• FALSE CLAIM: Health Care Reform will burden an already overblown deficit.
• FACT: The bill set to be signed by the President will reduce our deficit by $1.3 trillion over the next twenty years (Congressional Budget Office Report: 3/20/10).
• FALSE CLAIM: HR 4872 shortchanges our family doctors and community hospitals.
• FACT: HR 4872 will largely eliminate around $45 billion in uncompensated care alone, helping to sustain our hospitals. This legislation provides funding for the education of primary care doctors and other providers, as well as funding for community health centers (Sections 5301-5315, 5501-5509, 5601-5605).
• FALSE CLAIM: Those who already have health insurance will lose it.
• FACT: The Senate bill specifically provides that those who already have health insurance will be able to keep it (Section 1251). It also extends massive tax cuts to middle-class families and small businesses for up to half of their insurance costs.
• FALSE CLAIM: Health Care reform is equal to a big government takeover of 1/6th of our economy.
• FACT: HR 4872 did not include a public option and allows a market-based mechanism and insurance exchanges to bring down the cost of health insurance by opening the market for private insurance companies to millions of new customers (Sections 1311-1313; 1321-1324).
• FALSE CLAIM: HR 4872 cuts into Medicare and reduces coverage for our seniors.
• FACT: The bill strengthens Medicare by cutting unnecessary subsidies to insurance companies and rolling these savings back into a program to provide better care and coverage for our seniors (Section 3201, 3202). It links payments to quality outcomes (Section 3001-3008) and shared savings programs (Section 3022) and sustains Medicare (Sections 3401-3403).
• FALSE CLAIM: This bill creates 100,000 new federal jobs.
• FACT: I have read both bills (over 2,500 pages total) and nowhere do they provide for governmental expansion. In the past two decades, the total number of federal jobs has decreased by 10%. This legislation creates 32 million more customers for private insurance companies who offer competitive products.
• FALSE CLAIM: HR 4872 will decrease health care coverage for our troops.
• FACT: Nowhere in any version of any health care bill is TRICARE negatively impacted. In fact, a recent bill (HR 4887) that unanimously passed the house floor requires that TRICARE coverage meets the minimum standards established under the bill.
• FALSE CLAIM: Tort reform should be the foundation of meaningful health care cost control.
• FACT: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says that medical malpractice costs account for anywhere from .5% to 2% of America’s overall health care budget. (Congressional Budget Office Letter to Senator Orrin Hatch, 10/9/09 and CBO Director Elmendorf’s Blog, 10/9/09)
When used in actual practice, the state of Ohio passed strict tort reform laws in 2004, and premiums for employer-based family health plans have risen ever since despite the legislation. (Cleveland Plains Dealer, “Ohio’s tort reform law hasn’t lowered health-care costs, 03/20/10)
• FALSE CLAIM: Allowing the sale of insurance across state lines will lower the cost of health care.
• FACT: Insurance is currently regulated by states, which means that an Alabama plan can't be sold in New York unless it conforms to our regulations. If we allowed insurers to headquarter in a state with weak consumer protections and sell its product in a state with stronger protections, insurers would cluster in a handful of states with the most lax regulation, and we would effectively have a single national insurance standard – and a race to the bottom.
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