Republicans, Democrats sparring over latest federal health-care plan
Thursday, October 29, 2009
By Jim Turner
Republican congressmen representing the Treasure Coast said they hope the latest effort by Democrats to revamp health care, which now includes a public insurance option, will be open to comment from the minority party and public before a final vote is cast.
Top House Democrats on Thursday released their latest version of the bill—nearly 2,000 pages that combines three versions that previously went before different House committees.
The bill would extend coverage to 36 million currently uninsured Americans at a cost of $894 billion during the next decade, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, said the bill includes “higher taxes, significant long-term unfunded liabilities, a higher national debt and more government control over health care.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, whose district includes large portions of Martin and St. Lucie counties, said that Pelosi is moving forward with a bill “that make unacceptable cuts to Medicare, tax increases on small business owners with a job-killing employer mandate and a public option that I will not support.
“Republicans have better ideas to help lower health-care costs,” Rooney added. “By increasing competition, tort reform, more individual choice, we can lower health-care costs for all Americans.”
Posey, whose district includes Indian River County, said he’s willing to address shortcomings in the nation’s health care system, but he won’t be part of efforts to impose a government-run health care plan that he claims were “rewritten in secret.”
“I am proud to support several solutions that have been introduced by my House Republican colleagues,” Posey said. “We need to fix what’s broken and we can do it without creating a new, massive and unaffordable government health-care plan.”
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Miramar, whose district includes portions of western Martin and St. Lucie counties and Fort Pierce, did not respond to requests for comments Thursday.
According to Pelosi’s office, the bill would make sure that 96 percent of Americans get coverage, subsidizing insurance for the poorest Americans and creating insurance exchanges for small groups, while capping out-of-pocket expenses.
The money to pay for the coverage would come from taxes on the wealthiest Americans and through a 1.3 percent annual cut to Medicare.
Both plans include a public option that would allow health-care providers to negotiate reimbursement rates with the federal government. Critics of a public option have argued that such a provision will drive private-sector insurers out of business.
Unlike the House plan, the Senate plan would allow states to opt out of the plan.
Any bill eventually approved by the House would still need to be merged with a Senate version, before going before President Obama for final approval.
This article is reprinted from http://www.tcpalm.com
