Sam Johnson to Democrats: How will you pay for health care?
“Make health care affordable, accessible, and available.”
June 24, 2009
Today at a Ways and Means Committee hearing on the future of health reform, U.S. Congressman Sam Johnson (3rd Dist.-Texas) demanded answers as to how Democrats plan to pay for their pricey health care proposals and urged his colleagues to make health care affordable, accessible and available, not push people out of the health plan that they presently like.
“Top priorities for health reform should include making care more affordable, more accessible and more available. The American public has to foot the bill for the $1 trillion stimulus and the $500 billion omnibus spending bill. That money is on top of the housing bailout, the banking bailout and the auto industry bailout. Enough is enough. If the Democrats want to pass a health care bill costing trillions of dollars, the American people want, need and deserve to know – how will the Democrats pay for this,” exclaimed Johnson, a member of the Health Subcommittee on the Ways and Means Committee and the GOP Health Care Reform Solutions Group.
The House Democrats’ 852-page health plan could force more than 100 million Americans out of their current health care plan and onto the government rolls, according to a Lewin Group study published earlier this year. The Congressional Budget Office reports that a similar plan authored by Senate Democrats would force at least 23 million Americans off of their current plans.
The Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) has admitted that the Democrats’ health legislation would be financed with tax hikes. It has been reported that Democrats are considering everything from taxing soda at 10 cents per unit, to raising income taxes on those earning more than $200,000, to creating a federal sales tax.
“People want access to their doctor, they want access to the quality care they are accustomed to, and they want access to the medical treatments they need when they need it. They don’t want to be subject to the whims of a government bureaucrat that makes health care decisions at the expense of patients and doctors. All would be jeopardized under a government-run plan being proposed by congressional Democrats,” continued Johnson.
A majority of Americans worry government run health care would lead to a loss of their doctor, limits on treatments and lower quality care. Specifically, a recent New York Times poll shows more Americans have concerns over what a government-run plan would do to the quality of their healthcare.
For example, the New York Times/CBS News poll shows that:
• 63 percent were concerned that their own health care would get worse under a government-run system of health care;
• 68 percent believed a government-run system would limit their access to treatments and quality care; and
• 53 percent were concerned they would have to give up their own doctor under a government-run system.
“We don’t need to spend more money to solve our health care problems; America spends more on health care than any other developed nation. We just need to spend our health care dollars smarter,” concluded Johnson.
Johnson represents portions of Dallas and Collin Counties.
# # # |
