A few weeks back I wrote a letter to my Congressman to find out why he would not support the Republican plan for health care reform and why he voted for the Democrat plan after meeting with President Obama, who assured him that he would help with Medicare and Medicaid in Maine. It just didn’t make sense to me that the biggest issue in Maine was the government run programs, yet the Congressman voted for even more government intervention.
I got the same BS form letter back, but it had some interesting comments from his office so I decided to respond. In modern days with Facebook, Twitter, and blogs, we may actually have a little bit of influence on how people think so I am not going to just take his letter and file it. I am responding to him and posting his letter with my responses in italics here.
Enjoy
I understand your concern with the cost of paying for H.R. 3962, the America’s Affordable Health Care Act. My true concern was not how to pay for it, but doing it at all. However, I do not believe that the proposal offered by Republican leadership would result in real reform or stop the spiraling costs of health care in our country. Why not? I haven’t seen anything in the Democratic proposals that lower cost or result in meaningful reforms either. At least the Republicans plan only costs $61 billion, doesn’t include a government takeover, attacks medical malpractice suits, and according to the CBO will actually lower premiums for most people by 2 to 10%. After hundreds of meetings, hours of careful consideration, and lots of soul searching, I have decided to lend my support to H.R. 3962. Although I continue to have serious concerns with pieces of the health care reform package, I have decided that being at the table will more effectively advance the interests of the people of Maine than by standing on the sidelines. How many conservatives or Republicans were at the original table? What inputs have you already offered? What would you do to address those concerns? I have taken the time to read and carefully study all 1,990 pages of the bill and the accompanying amendments, and I supported the bill before the House because this process must move forward. So what does this paragraph on page 432 mean?
“The Federal medical assistance percentage determined for a disaster-recovery FMAP adjustment State under paragraph (1) shall apply for purposes of this title (other than with respect to disproportionate share hospital payments described in section 1923 and payments under this title that are based on the enhanced FMAP described in 2105(b)) and shall not apply with respect to payments under title IV (other than under part E of title IV) or payments under title XXI.”
No one understands this and no one could read that many pages of this drivel and actually understand it. So I am not buying it.
This bill is not perfect. First thing we have agreed upon. Since August, I have raised several concerns over this legislation. Most specifically, I remain concerned about parts of the bill that cut Medicare and Medicaid. But the Democrats say those cuts would fix Medicare and Medicaid. Every other problem under the Obama administration is fixed by spending more money, but these two will actually be fixed by cutting money out. Very strange. Don’t you find it ironic that the two biggest issues that keep coming up in the health care debate are these two government entitlements? Your parties plan would be to add more to these programs and add a whole other entitlement in the form of a government option, and that doesn’t raise a red flag for you? These cuts would unfairly impact Maine due to our unique situation as having one of the most efficient health care systems in the country (based on what data?), while receiving some of the lowest reimbursement rates for services provided. Good point, low reimbursement rates, not to mention late ones, are what directly leads to higher costs in the private market. Hence, government is causing higher costs in health care. A healthcare service has a cost, no one knows what the true cost is because we don’t hold providers accountable for their role in healthcare, but there is a cost. Paying the provider less does not eliminate or lower the cost, it just shifts it. This is the fundamental problem with our health care system. These concerns were raised by many in Maine, and I have made sure that they have been heard by the highest levels of government in our nation. I will also redouble my efforts with Senator Snowe to ensure that rural access to health care is protected and strengthened in the State of Maine as both the House and Senate move forward toward a final bill. We need to stop with this rural healthcare stuff as an excuse. People choose to live where we live. I live in a rural community and part of that is making sacrifices including access to great health care. I don’t need the governments help here. My health care options in my rural county are still better than what I would get under a nationalized system like Canada.
My vote does not guarantee where I will ultimately come down on the future conference report. I hope not. While I understand the legitimate concerns that have been expressed over the direction of reform, this work is too important to fail, and I could not in good conscience let the perfect be the enemy of the possible. This is where you are wrong. It is too important to get wrong. We can’t afford a massive failure here which quite frankly is the track record of government intervention. That is why we should take smaller steps to fix what is broken and not replace the entire system. This is not about being part of history and passing a historic bill. It needs to be about fixing the problem.
H.R. 3962 is deficit neutral and will not add to our national debt. If you believe this, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. When has a government projection ever been even close? Medicare was supposed to cost $11 billion by 1990. The real number was over $90 billion. Now, Medicare’s budget is over $400 billion per year and it loses $50 billion to fraud. We are talking about a 45 year old program that is completely out of control and has now promised $38 trillion in benefits, it can’t cover. Excuse me if I doubt that this will not add to our debt. While the initial cost will be $894 billion over the next ten years, the Act is completely offset and will actually reduce the deficit by $104 billion. Sure. What about the next ten years? Or why not take the ten years that it actually will run without the ramp up in 2011 to 2014. The numbers I see for 2014-2023, the cost will be more like $2.5 trillion. The one thing government has proven that it can do, is spend money. These promises hold no water. Studies show that at least 5% of Medicare spending currently goes to waste, fraud and inefficiency, (yeah, this is a well known problem that no one has addressed. If we know it is an issue, let’s fix it. Why does it need to be tied to this bill? If this really was an easy fix, I would hope that it would have been done years ago. But I guess it is more important to focus on the $8 billion in insurance company profits instead of the $50 billion in Medicare fraud. Oh, and even if this bill was successful, the new government run program will just have the fraud again.), the Medicare savings contained in the bill come from eliminating this unnecessary spending. Additionally, the bill achieves savings by ensuring that a 50% reduction in price on any brand-name drugs will go to Medicare Part D beneficiaries falling into the donut hole where drugs are not reimbursed and requiring that drug companies provide rebates for individuals enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid. Where will these costs get passed onto?
The legislation will raise additional revenue through a surcharge on the portion of annual income that exceeds $1 million for couples and $500,000 for individuals. This surtax does not affect 99.92% of taxpayers in the 2nd Congressional district; only 250 households would be affected. Nationally, only 1.2% of small business owners would pay the surcharge, and these business owners have an average annual income of nearly $3 million. Not sure why you think I would think that it is ok to tax the business owners, many who pass through the income from their businesses on their personal income tax return that puts them into this threshold, is a good thing. I understand that those with wealth are never truly the ones that pay. I am not really all that ok with having people in Massachusetts paying for this on my behalf. I think you might want to focus some energy on growing more of those 250 households, then fleecing other people to pay for your constituents. Small businesses can easily pass that additional tax unto their employees by not paying a bonus, making them work more hours, not offer benefits, or hire more help, etc. As Margaret Thatcher once said, “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” I would like to think that Maine and the United States was built upon the hard work and dedication of Peter, not the dependency of Paul. This bill seems to only help Paul at the expense of Peter. It will not work. It is what destroyed California and it what will bring this great nation down.
I urge my colleagues in the Senate to pass their own version of legislation so that we can come together and present the American public with final legislation. We must get the best possible bill passed so that the Mainers I represent not only have more affordable coverage but coverage that meets their needs. This vote for health care reform is a vote for expanding health care coverage to the thousands of small businesses and people in Maine who do not have it and, to those who do, making it more affordable and better. I will bet $1000 that my health care premiums will not be lower after this bill passes. This vote says yes to ending the practice of denying coverage due to preexisting conditions and other abusive insurance industry abuses. How does that lower cost of premiums?
I understand that health care is in need of reform, I just don’t think the Democrats bill is the way to fix it. In fact, I think it will make it worse. I recently talked to a small business owner who pays $800 a month for his premiums and has a $3500 deductible. If he hits that, he still would have co-pays and co-insurance. If he was less honest, it is a cash based business, he could lower his income and qualify for Mainecare. He would then have no premiums, no deductible, and no co-pays. What incentive is there to do the right thing? I have a similar issue as my deductible is $10,000, but my premiums are less and I put money into a Health Savings Account. I then make the decisions on my healthcare. Because I do so, I direct where my money goes and how it is spent and that will lead to lower costs for myself and the system. The only way to lower costs is to put more people in charge of their own money.
How does your bill lower cost? Not shift it, lower it. The Democrats are playing one giant shell game but eventually someone has to pay.
Being able to get quality health care should never be a question for any American. And it isn’t. Every American can go to the hospital and be treated. Most will have a better trained internist than they would have access to under socialized medicine assuming they could get a doctor. The bill we passed on November 7th is a good step forward. Backward in my opinion. It will help make sure that no American goes broke because they get sick or is ever denied coverage. No, they will just be broke because they are un-employed, don’t save, and constantly have the government bailing them out. I look forward to continuing to work toward meaningful reform that is good for Maine.
The worst part of your support for this bill is that I am not sure which is worse, that you actually believe that this will work, or you are just lying to us. Either way, I will not be voting for you in 2010 and I will be using my blog, Facebook, and Twitter pages to convince others not to vote for you as well. We need people in Washington who believe in the spirit of America, who believe in the Constitution, who believe in the power in people instead of government. This apparently is not you.