Response from Representative Bill Posey

July 30, 2009

Mr. Matthew Wiser
834 Bianca Drive Northeast
Palm Bay, FL 32905-5802

Dear Mr. Wiser,

The House of Representatives is planning a vote on comprehensive health care reform legislation (H.R. 3200) in September, and I want to share with you my concerns about this bill.

Washington has passed an unprecedented level of spending since January: $350 billion for the TARP bailout, a $410 billion omnibus appropriation bill, a $1 trillion stimulus bill, a record $3.5 trillion federal budget, and an $864 billion national energy tax. This spending level is unmatched in our nation's history. I voted against all of these bills. We will have a $1.8 trillion deficit this year and $1.5 trillion in 2010. This will increase our total national debt by 30% over two years – accumulating more debt in two years than between 1776 and 1991.

Unfortunately, I believe H.R. 3200 would only make this situation worse by adding trillions of dollars in spending and unfunded long-term costs and creating a new federal bureaucracy to run the nation's health care system. The President said that one of his top priorities was passing health care reform legislation that would control costs, yet the Director of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office testified on July 17, that the proposed health care legislation "significantly expands the federal responsibility for health-care costs."

Rather than curbing health care costs, Director Elmendorf said the costs would increase significantly. He added that "the federal budget is on an unsustainable path…will produce growing budget deficits… which in turn would depress economic growth in the United States." H.R. 3200 will further indebt future generations and cause serious harm to our overall economy. H.R. 3200 also greatly expands Washington's role in health care, but perhaps you might expect this given that the seven coauthors of this bill have spent a combined 205 years in the U.S. Congress. Washington has proven time and again that it is incapable of running effective, sustainable programs and Americans should expect more of the same from this bill.

This bill would move more than 100 million Americans from private health plans into the new government plan, where health care decisions will be decided by government bureaucrats whose chief aim is to control cost. This violates my primary principle: letting Americans keep their current health care plan if they so desire. 80% of Americans want to keep their current plan.

H.R. 3200 would put us on the path toward eliminating private health insurance choices. Here is how, as set forth on page 16. The bill sets up a new government-run program. Then after this program is established, insurance companies are prohibited from issuing any indiviudal policies outside of the new government programs. Americans without insurance would have no choice but to sign up for a plan under the government program that meets the govenment mandated benefits. Within the government program, the government plan (called the public option/government-run option) will pay providers 30% less than the non-government option. This lower price will entice millions of individuals and employers to drop current coverage and move to the government-run plan.

For those who remain outside of the government program, any change in jobs will end their existing coverage and force them into the government program. As fewer and fewer Americans are insured outside of the government program, the cost of medical coverage for those who remain in private plans will rise dramatically, and these plans will be unable to offer affordable coverage. At a health care rally earlier this year, Rep. Jan Schakowski, a leading national single payer advocate argued that this is a step toward a single payers system, stating: "This is a strategy about getting there and I believe we will."

In addition to the unsustainable costs and centralizing control of your health care in Washington, this bill harms the lifeblood of our economy: America's small businesses. Millions of small businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, yet H.R. 3200 imposes additional costly mandates and higher taxes. The U.S. unemployment rate is at a 26 year high of 9.4% and climbing. This is the worst time to impose costly mandates. According to a model developed by President Obama's Council of Economic Advisors Chair, Christina Romer, such a proposal could cost as many as 4.7 million jobs. This would be in addition to the 2.5 million jobs that may be lost due enactment of the National Energy Tax recently passed by the House.

Small businesses face several significant tax increases from the Congress and Administration: health care mandated pay-or-play or payroll taxes; new income taxes for successful small businesses; the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and resulting higher taxes; and cap-and-trade national energy taxes. All of these tax hikes and costly mandates would cripple our economy, hamper economic recovery, and lead to persistently higher unemployment. We need to free the engines of economic growth not saddle them the excesses of government.

My website, www.posey.house.gov/issues, has additional information regarding this bill and my ideas for solutions to the problem of the high cost of medical care. I will continue to advocate for reforms that focus on lowering costs, expanding Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and enabling small businesses to pool resources to lower costs for their employees. Please visit my website to learn more about the bill, my solutions, and to take my constituent survey.

Sincerely,

Bill Posey
Member of Congress

Confirmation# 1705718


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