West Virginians Deserve Better Than House-Passed Health Bill

Statement

Dear Friend,

Despite serious bipartisan reservations about Speaker Pelosi's 2,000-page health reform plan, she succeeded in pushing her trillion dollar bill through the House of Representatives in a narrow Saturday night vote.

As you may know, I joined many of my Republican colleagues and nearly 40 of my Democratic colleagues in opposing the Speaker's legislation because I believe we can do better.

Instead of a sincere attempt work together, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues rejected any semblance of bipartisanship in favor of a 2,000-page bill written behind closed doors that will saddle our children and grandchildren with yet another trillion dollar price tag.

After a $700 billion bailout, a failed $787 billion stimulus plan and a cap-and-trade regime that stands to cripple the economies of states like West Virginia -- we simply can't afford the "solutions" of this President and this Congress.

The Speaker's legislation slashes funding for Medicare, raises taxes on small businesses and as the Democratic Governor of Tennessee put it, amounts to the "mother of all un-funded mandates."

Consider how Senator Olympia Snowe, my Senate colleague from Maine, described the House legislation:

"I do not know what world they live in," she told Politico. "But all I know is [that bill] is totally detached from the average person, the average business owner who is struggling to keep their doors open and to have that level of taxation is breathtaking in its dimensions. I just think it is so out of proportion with reality and with mainstream America that it is hard to believe, frankly."

Let's further consider a number of particularly egregious portions of the bill.

It guts Medicare Advantage -- a program that serves more than 72,000 West Virginians -- by slashing $170 billion in funding.

A CBO analysis suggests that these cuts "could lead many plans to limit the benefits they offer, raise their premiums, or withdraw from the program." Simply put, it amounts to a blatant violation of the President's pledge that "if you like your current health care you can keep it."

It also cuts nearly $57 billion for home health services.

And by creating a government-run health care plan, the bill creates a perverse incentive for business to drop private health plans, again breaking the President's promise that if you like your plan you'll be able to keep it.

West Virginians deserve meaningful health care reform. They deserve reforms that improve access to care. They deserve reforms that end denials of coverage based on pre-existing conditions. But most importantly, they deserve something far better than the bill they got on Saturday night.

I will continue to encourage my Senate colleagues to listen to the American people and seek real bipartisan reforms as this legislation now moves on to the other chamber.

Sincerely,

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