On the evening of January 20, 2012, I had the honor of representing the people of Tennessee’s Fourth Congressional District on the House floor during President Obama’s third State of the Union address. Amidst all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the evening, it is easy to forget that the State of the Union serves a very practical purpose. This is the president’s opportunity to update the American people on the progress of his administration’s agenda. While the president articulated the status of many of his key initiatives, I was surprised that he chose to not make a single mention of his signature legislative achievement – his health care law. Perhaps President Obama is starting to realize what the American people already know: ObamaCare is the wrong prescription for America.

Friday, March 23, 2012, marks the second anniversary of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) being signed into law. Unfortunately, over the last two years this bill has given us very little to celebrate. I think it is fair to say that Nancy Pelosi’s strategy of, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it,” led to a law that has forced President Obama and the Democratic Leadership to break many of the promises they made to the American people. 

For example, last week the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that the president’s health care law will now cost American taxpayers $1.76 trillion over 10 years (2013 -2022), or around $12,753 per person. This is nearly double the amount that President Obama had originally told us this bill would cost and the law hasn’t even been implemented yet. I know that there are those in Washington who claim that the term “ObamaCare” is derogatory, but in light of these new numbers, calling it the Affordable Care Act is a misnomer.

Another example can be found in a February 2010 statement by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi claiming that ObamaCare would create 400,000 jobs “almost immediately.” However, it appears that the only jobs that have actually been created have been government ones, like the 17,000 new IRS agents needed to implement the law. In fact, the CBO has stated that the president’s health care law will actually reduce the labor supply by around 800,000. Other estimates have put the number as high as 670,000 lost jobs per year as a result of employers moving unskilled full-time jobs to part time positions to meet the law’s requirement that they offer health benefits to all full-time employees. Additionally, the $525 billion in new taxes, fees and penalties this law imposes on businesses takes funds that could be used in hiring workers and sends them to the government.

Finally, I think most Americans remember President Obama’s promise, “If you like your doctor, you will be able to keep your doctor. If you like your health care plan, you will be able to keep your health care plan.” Unfortunately, it is not true. A new report from CBO claims that up to 20 million people could lose their employer-sponsored insurance by 2019 as a result of ObamaCare. Further, the administration’s own estimates reveal that under the law, up to 80 percent of small businesses are considering giving up their current plans. I have spoken first-hand to several businesses owners in the Fourth District that state unequivocally that they will drop employee coverage if this bill is implemented.

Every day it is becoming increasingly obvious that the only way to fix ObamaCare is to repeal it. I am proud to have voted 25 times to fully repeal, defund, or dismantle portions of the president’s unpopular health care law. This week the House will vote to repeal the Medicare rationing board set up in ObamaCare. The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is comprised of 15 unelected Washington bureaucrats whose sole purpose is to indiscriminately cut Medicare services for our seniors. Rather than leaving medical decisions between patients and their doctors, this board will determine what procedures physicians can provide. Even many Democrats agree that the IPAB is dangerous for our seniors.

It is critical that we fully repeal this law and replace it with real solutions to increase American’s access to quality health care. After two years, it seems that the only thing that we can be sure of about this bill is that it is bad for our economy, bad for businesses and, most importantly, it is bad for patients.