Congressman Luke Messer

Representing the 6th District of Indiana

Health Issues

Few laws have expanded government’s role in our everyday lives like the Affordable Care Act. I oppose this law and voted to repeal, delay and defund it entirely. The President’s health care law needs to be replaced with reforms that use competition to lower health care costs and increase its quality. Doctors and patients, not Washington bureaucrats, should make health care and treatment decisions. I have sponsored and cosponsored several bills to help people hurt by the President’s health care law. I introduced legislation to ensure that no one could be fined for not purchasing insurance on an exchange website that doesn't work, to shield schools from the law’s mandates and penalties, and to protect small businesses from its taxes. I cosponsored and voted for the Keep Your Health Plan Act which will allow people to keep their health plans that were cancelled because they didn't comply with the law’s requirements. I have also cosponsored the American Health Care Reform Act, which seeks to solve our nation’s health care challenges through patient-centered, market-based reforms. I will continue working every day to make health care more affordable and fix problems in the health care system, both problems that pre-date the ACA and the many problems that were created by it.

More on Health Issues

Dec 5, 2014

For too long, individuals with disabilities and their families have been forced into an unfair choice—stay poor and rely on government assistance or work to be more self-sufficient and completely give up much-needed government benefits.  

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives did something about that unfairness by passing the Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act.  This act gives the disabled an important third option—the option to participate in the labor force without being forced off of the social safety net.  

Oct 20, 2014

SHELBYVILLE, Ind.--While federal government officials and officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continue to address the Ebola issue, a lawmaker who represents Shelby County said more should be done.

U.S. Rep. Luke Messer, who represents Shelby County in the 6th Congressional District, urged Ebola Czar Ron Klain to help lead the effort to combat Ebola immediately.

Oct 17, 2014

WASHINGTON — Today, Congressman Luke Messer welcomed the President’s appointment of Ebola Czar, Ron Klain, to help lead the effort to combat Ebola.  He also called on Klain to show decisive leadership and act quickly to combat the spread of this deadly virus.

“We all know the old saying ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,’” said Congressman Luke Messer. “There are steps we could be taking right now to prevent the spread of Ebola before it becomes a widespread health care crisis in the U.S.”   

Sep 16, 2014

WASHINGTON—Today, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report confirming that federal tax dollars are being used to pay for abortions under the President’s health care law.

GAO found—despite the President’s promise in 2009 that under his health care law “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions”—more than 1,000 health insurance plans, supported by your tax dollars, are doing just that. 

Sep 4, 2014

GREENFIELD, Ind.—Today, Members of Congress, school leaders and business owners came together in Greenfield, Indiana, to discuss the effects of the President's health care law on schools and businesses.

The House Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, on which Congressman Luke Messer serves, convened the hearing in an effort to learn directly from Hoosiers impacted by the Affordable Care Act.

Aug 26, 2014

The open enrollment period for insurance plans mandated by the Affordable Care Act is just months away.  For most Hoosiers, that means a bigger bite out of their monthly budgets next year.  Health insurance premiums in Indiana will go up an average of 13% in 2015 according to a study conducted by the Health Research Institute.   That means individual Hoosiers can expect to pay about $497 per month for insurance without government subsidies.  That’s not affordable, despite the law’s title.

Jun 30, 2014

WASHINGTON--Congressman Luke Messer (IN-06) released the following statement after the Supreme Court announced its ruling on the contraception mandate of the President’s health care law:

May 15, 2014

WASHINGTON— Rep. Luke Messer (IN-06) released the following statement of support for Gov. Mike Pence’s Healthy Indiana Plan (HIP) 2.0 this morning.

Apr 29, 2014

Congressman Luke Messer encourages his colleagues to support the ABLE Act so families with children with autism, like his nephew Trey, can have the same access to tax preferred savings accounts as the parents of college-bound kids to use for medical care and support.

 

Apr 16, 2014