HON. CORRINE BROWN
OF FLORIDA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2011
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to House Resolution 9, which instructs authorizing committees to develop legislation replacing existing healthcare laws. While I applaud the majority's intention to finally present their own comprehensive solutions to the health care crisis in this country, I note that they don't need a resolution by the entire House to do so. Committees can develop legislation on their own at any time. Moreover, I reject the idea that the Patients Protection and Affordable Care Act must be "replaced.'' The PPACA represents a century of effort by people of all political persuasions to give people the peace of mind that comes from knowing they have access to affordable care. No law is ever perfect. Certainly, all legislation can all be improved and I welcome the opportunity to further the progress made by the 111th Congress on health care reform.
Furthermore, current law meets most, if not all, of the goals identified in today's resolution. Since health care reform passed, the economy has grown, more than a million jobs have been created and thousands of small businesses have used tax credits to begin offering employees coverage for the first time. In order to foster competition and choice, the Department of Health and Human Services recently established a website where people can compare policies and when the exchanges launch in 2014, individuals and small businesses will select from a wide range of carriers competing for their business. Patients now have the right to choose their own primary care physician and women don't have to ask permission to see an obstetrician. Insurance carriers cannot arbitrarily deny care and patients have a robust right to repeal when company bureaucrats override doctors. Children cannot be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions and soon all Americans will enjoy that protection.
When PPACA is fully implemented, 32 million people will have coverage who never had it before, millions more will be able to afford coverage more easily, and seniors will not pay so dearly for prescription drugs. All of these actions can be done while extending Medicare solvency by twelve years by reducing waste, fraud and abuse and while slashing the deficit by $1.4 trillion over the next twenty years.
The Republican plan introduced in the House last session would cover just 3 million more Americans by 2019--leaving 51 million Americans uninsured in 2019. That plan reduced the deficit by $68 billion over the next 10 years--far less than the law we passed--and offered none of the cost savings and consumer protections that make health care reform work for all Americans. I sincerely hope Republicans offer more substantial solutions this session.
Finally, one goal of today's resolution that I must take issue with is the provision regarding abortion. Nothing in the PPACA allows for taxpayer funded abortions and I would strenuously object to any new laws that further restricted a woman's right to choose or allow medical professionals to deny legitimate services based on their own religious beliefs. There is no reason why the healthcare options for women--participating in insurance exchanges should be any different than they are for women who can afford coverage on their own.