Emerson Casts Vote to Repeal Health Care Law
"No matter how you feel about the law, no one thinks this is a perfect product. I know we can do better to control costs, to expand access in rural areas, to make it easier for small businesses to take care of their employees, and to get a better deal for taxpayers. This Congress is serious about posing solutions to these important issues, and today's vote sends an important message that we are focused on improving on an imperfect law," Emerson said.
Specifically, Emerson said the law lacks honest accounting of the costs to taxpayers in the trillion-dollar bill, noting that the bill uses ten years of revenue-raising measures to pay for six years of public health insurance exchanges.
"We need to drive down the expenses of prescription drugs by negotiating the bulk purchase of medicines through the Medicare program and expanding discount programs to in-patient procedures. We need to have portability of health insurance products. And we have to get rid of IRS mandates on individuals and small businesses to carry or provide insurance and mountains of paperwork," Emerson said.
Following the repeal vote, committees of jurisdiction in the U.S. House of Representatives have been instructed to comb the health law for inefficiencies, costs and regulatory overreaching that can be targeted by specific legislation.
"I expect there to be many efforts to undo various aspects of the health care law over the course of the next two years," Emerson said. "Keeping in mind the parts of the bill everyone can agree are good and necessary, like guaranteed access to insurance for Americans with pre-existing conditions, we have a lot of work ahead of us to make our health care system better."
