Health Care Law Update

Statement

On February 2, I supported the effort in the U.S. Senate to repeal the health care law. I am strongly in favor of repealing and replacing it with measures that provide an opportunity for those who do not have insurance to acquire it, while working to bring down the cost of health care. While the House of Representatives was successful in their repeal vote, our attempt in the Senate failed on a straight party-line vote.

The new health care law is doomed to fail at the outset. To pay for the new programs it requires 10 years worth of new taxes to cover six years of benefits. When I think of what Washington is doing to health care, I think of Ronald Reagan's famous debate line delivered to Jimmy Carter…"There you go again." A new bureaucracy has been created that is not sustainable. Plus, it takes billions from Medicare, which is a major concern to seniors, and it is driving up the cost of insurance premiums, not lowering them as promised.

Entitlement Spending Predictions and Actual Costs_wsj_102009So where do we go from here?

Already, two federal courts have found the individual mandate provision, which requires people to purchase medical insurance whether they want to or not, to be unconstitutional.

I have joined a group of senators in introducing S. 281, the Save our States Act. This legislation will place a moratorium on any further implementation of the health care law until there is a final judicial resolution to this matter.

There were 26 states that were a party to this lawsuit, including Idaho, which sought to stop the federal government from enforcing this law on the states. No more taxpayer dollars should be spent to implement a law that two federal courts have found to be unconstitutional.

This bill would delay the new regulations currently being developed by the administration that were not in effect on the date of enactment. The bill does not suspend features of the law already in effect on the enactment date.

I believe it is irresponsible to waste billions of dollars that we certainly do not have, on a plan that could ultimately be ruled unconstitutional.

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