CURRENT BILLS DO NOT ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS

Washington, Sep 9, 2009 - “One of my major concerns is that the President indicated that many details have to be worked out and that many of the items he talked about are not in the House bills,” said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Sixth). “Many of the controversial provisions are still included in the House bills, including H.R. 3200, which I opposed in the Energy & Commerce Committee.”

“The President claimed that his plan would cost $900 billion over 10 years, but the Congressional Budget Office puts the cost of H.R. 3200 at $1.6 trillion,” added Stearns. “He also maintained that Medicare would not be cut, and then went on to say that savings from eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid would help fund his plan. Every President has tried to curb waste, fraud, and abuse in these programs, yet we still lose billions of dollars.”

Stearns continued, “I laud his goals on covering pre-existing conditions, providing portability of coverage, and giving protection from catastrophic expenses. I am offering legislation to prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage for those who are ill. Yet, the safeguards he advocates are not there in the bills under consideration. As he was leaving the House chamber, I urged him not to move forward with HR. 3200 and I asked him to restart the process with a bipartisan approach. Working together, this is something that we can do.”