Health Care Going Forward

On Tuesday, March 30, President Obama will sign the last piece of the new health care legislation into law.

Throughout the health care debate, I have maintained that improvements should be made to the existing health care system, but this trillion dollar government takeover of one sixth of the economy is not the right answer. When the federal government is borrowing 41 cents for every dollar it spends, we cannot afford the $1.2 trillion cost of this new health care law. When unemployment is near 10 percent, the uncertainty of new taxes and mandates from this law will discourage employers from creating new jobs. Continuing to go down this path of expanding entitlement and dependence on the government simply will not work.

The law contains the first ever federal mandate to require individuals to purchase health insurance and requires unprecedented levels of government approval for the insurance plans that Americans will be allowed to choose from. More government involvement will add further inefficiencies and costs to the system that will be paid for by consumers in the form of higher taxes and insurance premiums. Further, the new law reduces Medicare by more than $500 billion. Rather than use funds within Medicare, which is already going broke, these funds will be directed toward covering other costs of this new law.

This is a very complex law, and it will take a number of years to be fully implemented. In fact, many provisions do not become effective until 2014 and later. Click here for a timeline with further details about the new law and when key provisions will take effect.

The American people voiced their objections to this law loud and clear, but the Congressional Leadership did not listen to them. Even though this legislation may be law, please be assured I will continue to work for repeal of this bill and replacement of these flawed policies with real reform that provides more affordable solutions to improve health care access and costs.