United States Senator Lisa Murkowski

Health Care

In the 112th Congress, Sen. Murkowski and her colleagues are looking for ways to repeal some of the most egregious parts of the health care law, such as the tax increases on small businesses and American families, onerous new IRS requirements and health care cuts to senior citizens on Medicare. Congress and the American people were promised that the health care law would bring down their health care costs. Unfortunately, initial accounts by government officials indicate that insurance premiums will continue to rise and that the health care law will not reduce costs. Sen. Murkowski strongly believes that the way to achieve this is by getting at the heart of our spiraling health care costs. In a bipartisan vote, the U.S. House of Representatives on January 19, 2011, voted 245 – 189 to repeal the health care reform law. Should a similar proposal come before the Senate, Sen. Murkowski will vote in favor of repeal.

The health care overhaul, signed into law in March 2010, was supposed to contain out-of-control health care costs. Instead, the American people got a $2.6 trillion law that expands the federal government’s role in health care. Rather than finding solutions to fix a broken health care system, the law slashes $529 billion from Medicare at a time when the program is slated to go broke in seven years, and also increases taxes by more than a half trillion dollars over 10 years.

Sen. Murkowski believes that we must replace the flawed law with reforms that will halt the spiraling costs of health care. Such reforms would include addressing medical malpractice reform to reduce the practice of defensive medicine, allowing insurers to sell across state lines and creating incentives for health care providers to be reimbursed for the value of their services rather than the volume of their services.

Health Care Law

On Thursday, June 28, 2012, the United States Supreme Court ruled to uphold the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, identifying the mandate to purchase health care insurance valid as a new tax on Americans. Senator Murkowski believes that the Supreme Court finding this $2.6 trillion health care overhaul constitutional under Congress’ power to tax further permits governmental overreach into our health care and other choices. Like many Alaskans, Senator Murkowski finds the decision of the Supreme Court troubling, especially since the president pledged not to raise taxes on middle-income Americans, yet the foundation of this 900 page law is a new tax called the individual mandate. If there is one thing Alaskans agree on, it is that they don't like new taxes.

Senator Murkowski will continue to work with her colleagues to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act and responsibly address health care in a timely fashion.  She believes we need real health care reform that will improve Alaskans’ access to care, reduce costs by allowing individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines, reform medical liability so we can limit the practice of defensive medicine, and restructure the delivery system of health care to make it more affordable and accessible.

In addition to requiring every American to purchase health insurance or pay a new tax beginning in 2013, the Affordable Care Act’s includes other significant tax hikes, such as:

• a 40 percent tax on any insurance benefit if its cost exceeds $10,200 for an individual or $27,500 for a family,
• a 3.8 percent investment tax, which experts believe will apply to interest, capital gains and dividends, rents, royalties, the taxable portion of annuity payments, and income from the sale of a home,
• a .09 percent increase in Medicare payroll taxes, and
• a 2.3 percent tax on medical devices such as dental implants and pacemakers – which Senator Murkowski has joined 29 Senators to repeal (S.17)

Senator Murkowski opposed the Affordable Care Act when it was enacted, she has voted to repeal the law, and she has cosponsored a number of bills to repeal the law or components of it, including:

• S. 20 - The American Jobs Protection Act
• S. 192 - Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act
• S. 281 - The Save Our States Act
• S. 1880 - The Jobs and Premium Protection Act
• S. 17 – The Medical Device Access and Innovation Protection Act
• The Prevention Fund Integrity Act, prohibiting federal funds from being used to advertise the Affordable Care Act.

(Click picture above to view Sen. Murkowski's reaction the the ruling)