Kansas representatives not in favor of proposed reform

The proposed healthcare plan being discussed in the legislature would affect Americans across the country, including locally. The plan would affect doctors, hospitals, insurance companies and patients.

The legislators will return to the issue as they go back into session Tuesday.

There is not much support from Kansas representatives and senators on the federal level.

On Aug. 27, Sen. Sam Brownback called on Congressional leadership and President Obama to drop current health care proposals due to recent reports of staggering budget deficits and calls for more incremental and cost savings reforms.

“This week the White House predicted a $9 trillion deficit over the next 10 years on top of this year’s $1.6 trillion deficit,” Brownback said. “Our economy remains weak and Tuesday’s report makes clear that we must put our fiscal house in order.

“In light of this, I call on the President and the Congressional leadership to stop the current attempts to push massive and expensive health care reform through Congress. We should focus on bipartisan and incremental measures to improve the system and reduce the growth in government health care expenditures.”

While Rep. Todd Tiahrt does support reforming the healthcare system, he does not support the proposed plan either.

He wants to see reform done using “conservative Kansas principals that ensure better access and lower-cost healthcare for Americans without a government takeover.”

Tiahrt has been holding town hall meetings and meeting with physicians, surgeons and healthcare providers, as well as touring clinics, hospital and healthcare centers.

According to Tiahrt, the Obama/Pelosi plan will “raise taxes, crush Kansas jobs and lead to healthcare rationing and fewer treatment options for patients.”

Tiahrt said he adamantly opposes the healthcare proposals being pushed by the President and Pelosi.

Sen. Pat Roberts also is not supportive of the reform.

“Given the current legislation promoted by some congressional leaders, health care ‘reform’ won’t describe what Americans will get,” Roberts said. “Health care ‘rationing’ will be a more honest description.”

He did say members of both political parties have the same goal, they want high quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

“Unfortunately, the ‘health care reform’ proposal going through the Health Committee now won’t even come close to achieving that goal,” Roberts continued. “In fact, it will expand government programs at the expense of the already overburdened taxpayer, and it may restrict the benefits you currently have, or deny you access to the doctor or treatment of your choice.

“As a member of both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health Committee, the two committees writing the so-called health care reform bill, I have worked hard to call attention to what lurks under this banner or ‘reform,’” he said.

He went on to state several facts.

“First, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that once budget gimmicks are excluded, the price tag for just one portion of this bill would be over $1 trillion,” Roberts explained. “When the other parts of the bill are totaled up, I expect it to be another $1 trillion or more. That is a staggering cost for American taxpayers.

“Second, what’s worse is that this multi-trillion dollar bill won’t solve the problem. Estimates predict that under these partisan proposals, 15 million Americans could lose their employer provided health insurance.

“Third,” he continued, “don’t believe the promise that President Obama has made that ‘if you like your health care you can keep it.’ Should a government-run or so-called ‘public plan’ option – meant to address the estimated 47 million uninsured – be enacted, estimates say 118 million Americans could lose their current health care coverage and 130 million Americans could end up on the public plan.”

He went on to say as has been seen with Medicare, hospitals, doctors and patients eventually pay.

With this plan, hospitals are projected to lose even more money than they do with Medicare patients, of which the patient with private health insurance pays now.

Roberts felt this plan would greatly exacerbate the problem by setting payment rates in the same or similar manner as Medicare.

“Access to health care will become a major problem under this scenario,” he said. “It won’t matter if 100 percent of Americans have health insurance if they don’t have a doctor to see them when they are sick.”

Another concern he has is a proposal in the bill that attempts to mandate employers to provide healthcare to employees.

A study by the Harvard economist Kate Baker and University of Michigan Sociologist Helen Levy found an employer mandate would put 33 percent of uninsured workers at risk of losing their jobs if their employers were required to offer health insurance.

“It is simply a new tax on employers to pay for the policies in this bill,” Roberts said.

According to Tiahrt’s office, the Democrat’s bill includes $800 billion in new tax increases and estimates indicate this plan will result in 4.7 million workers losing their jobs as a result of the tax hikes on businesses.

Tiahrt’s newsletter goes on to state one of the ways the Democrat’s plan rations healthcare is through comparative effectiveness.

In addition, opponents of the bill estimate the actual number of uninsured is 8 to 13 million, rather than the 47 million uninsured often stated by supporters.

The higher figure includes illegal immigrants, young people in good health who choose not to buy insurance, people eligible for medical benefits but choosing not to access them and people earning $75,000 or more who could afford insurance but choose not to have it.

Tiahrt and other Republicans are proposing reform that lets Americans who like their coverage keep it and gives everyone the freedom to choose the plan that best meets their needs. The reform also would ensure medical decisions are made by patients and physicians, not government bureaucrats. It also would improve lives through prevention, wellness and disease management programs, while developing new treatments and cures for life-threatening diseases.

To lower the cost of healthcare, Republicans propose to extend a tax savings to those who do not have employer-provided insurance but purchase it on their own; implement comprehensive medical liability reform to address high defensive medicine costs; increase support for pre- and early retirees with low and modest incomes; tackle waste, fraud and abuse; create incentives for healthcare savings; and provide financial help to caregivers who provide in-home care for a loved one.

According to Tiahrt, Speaker Pelosi and President Obama have shut Republican ideas out of the healthcare reform process despite repeated requests to sit down and work together on bipartisan healthcare reform.

More than 30 amendments have been introduced in the House Ways and Means Committee, Energy and Commerce Committee and Appropriations Committee, all of which has been voted down on a party line vote. Some of the amendments would have protected individual private health insurance, protected small business from excessive taxation, prevented the creation of a government-run plan, prevented rationing of health care; protected seniors from losing care, protected health care providers from excessive regulation and mandated members of Congress who vote for a public plan enroll in that public option.

“There are proposals that would improve the health care system without resorting to a government-run plan that will ration care and restrict patient choice,” Roberts said.