Government Still Trying to Take Over Health Care

Yesterday, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats unveiled H.R. 3962, their latest version of the health care legislation that’s been hotly debated for months in Congress and across the country. (Read it here.)

One thing is clear. Your concerns about a government takeover of health care have been totally ignored by Speaker Pelosi and her allies, who worked behind closed doors to write this bill. After months of debate, the bill they introduced today is essentially the same bill the American people have already flat-out rejected.

Government-run insurance? Still in the bill. Higher taxes? You betcha. An individual mandate that restricts choices and innovation by requiring Washington to define what qualifies as health insurance? Check. A job-killing employer mandate, a budget-busting expansion of the Medicaid entitlement, and countless provisions that set Washington bureaucrats firmly between you and your doctor? Better believe it.

What about comprehensive lawsuit abuse reform and a ban on taxpayer funded abortion? Not surprisingly, those important items are still not in the bill.

There is one major and obvious difference between H.R. 3962 and H.R. 3200, however. At 1,990 pages, the new version is almost twice as long as the old one. H.R. 3962 has all the “government takeover” of H.R. 3200 with an extra thousand pages thrown into the mix. That’s a whole lot of government involved in personal, private health care decisions.

The American people want reforms that provide them with more choices, more competition, more innovation, higher quality, and lower costs. That’s the approach taken by the numerous patient-centered bills introduced by Republicans, including my own Empowering Patients First Act, H.R. 3400. Unfortunately, our ideas have been consistently and intentionally dismissed by the majority party.

But passage of this monstrosity is by no means certain. Though we expect a vote on this bill in the next week, there is still time to make your voice heard. Please forward this email to your friends, family, and co-workers. Get the word out and don’t delay. The future of American health care is in the balance, and we are on the clock