Repeal and Replace
For months during the run-up to the health care bill vote the American public was repeatedly told the proposed overhaul would save money and decrease overall health care costs. This became known as "bending the cost curve down," and it was used as a key justification for increased government involvement in our health care system.
Many – including me – said adding millions of individuals to government-run programs (like Medicaid) or private insurance rolls (through forced mandates) would actually raise costs. Sure enough, shortly after the bill was signed into law the Director of the Congressional Budget office found it would cost taxpayers approximately $115 billion more than we were originally told, pushing the total ten-year cost to taxpayers above $1 trillion.
Now, late last week we learned from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that total national spending on health care will actually increase slightly with the new health care law over their projections without it. They have actually managed to "bend the curve" up, not down. Clearly, this is not what the American people were promised.
Throughout the debate I argued there were better, more cost effective ways to expand insurance coverage and actually lower health care costs. Now that it has been proven the health care legislation will be more expensive than advertized and that it will raise costs, we must repeal it and replace it with ideas like tort reform and small business pooling that will increase coverage while saving money.
Sincerely,
