Thread: Strong Opinions from My Congressman About Healthcare Bill!

Republican Congressman Burgess is a physician who represents the 26th District of Texas, a conservative district outside Dallas. I only responded to his (yes or no) email inquiry about how constituents wished him to vote on healthcare, but he replies in detail to every contact. Obviously he feels very strongly personally about this huge healthcare bill!

Dear xxxx,

Thank you for contacting me to express your views on the overhaul of our nation's health care system. I appreciate hearing from you on this very important issue.

I have opposed the health care reform bills put before Congress by the Democratic Leadership because their bills will not preserve what works and fix what is broken. Rest assured that I am painfully aware of the problems with the American health care system as it currently exists and I support efforts towards reform. Over the course of this debate, I have attempted to work with the Obama Administration and Democratic committee leadership, but my efforts towards thoughtful, bipartisan reform were rejected. The main provisions of the health care reform legislation have been written in secret by Democratic committee chairmen and senior congressional staff, even rank and file Democrats were shut out from this process. This top - down approach excluded legitimate policy solutions, but more importantly, excluded the opinions of the American people. Rasmussen Reports' latest polls indicate that 54 percent of Americans oppose the Democrats' health care reform bill.

On March 21, 2010, after fourteen months of arm-twisting, in the face of opposition from the American public and a large, bipartisan group of Members of Congress, the House of Representatives passed two bills that fundamentally changed our nation's health care system through an unprecedented expansion of government. By a vote of 219-212, the House passed the Senate's health reform bill on Sunday, March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act H.R. 3590. H.R. 3590 was not vetted in House Committees, and did not go through the regular procedure of a Conference Committee. I joined 212 Republicans and Democrats in opposition to the passage of H.R. 3590. Unfortunately, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law on March 23, 2010.

Following passage of the bill, on March 25, the House and Senate passed a reconciliation measure, the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, H.R. 4872, to "fix" measures in the Senate bill. H.R. 4872 was signed into law by President Obama on March 30, 2010. This "fix-it" bill addresses some of the Senate sweetheart deals which would have used taxpayer dollars to favor the Medicaid program in Nebraska. The bill also removes protections for certain Floridians from Medicare Advantage cuts. Any savings related to these changes are cancelled out by the addition of a disastrous provision that fundamentally changes the student loan system in this country. H.R. 4872 makes the government the sole lender of student college loans.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Reconciliation Act of 2010 will spend upwards of $2.5 trillion when the bills are fully implemented. While the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score claims these bills would reduce the deficit by $138 billion in its first ten years, CBO scores can sometimes be misleading, and history has shown that actual costs are usually not what the CBO has predicted. Democrats achieved that "deficit-neutral" score, in part by excluding the true cost of new spending that takes effect in 2014, and by excluding the $200 billion reform needed for Medicare physician payments. Congress must work to ensure our best and brightest doctors remain in the Medicare program, and address the 21% pay cut Medicare doctors will soon face.

The consequences of this massive expansion of government have had an immediate effect on American companies. The health care law phases out tax credits that helped companies to provide prescription drug coverage to retirees. As financial rules require corporations to immediately restate their earnings to reflect the present value of their long-term health liabilities; AT&T, Caterpillar, John Deere, 3M and others, have announced billions of dollars of increased health care costs - increases that are going to affect employees and retirees.

While some changes under the bill are effective immediately, the majority of provisions will not go into effect until 2014. For example, the law makes changes to coverage for high-risk individuals with pre-existing health conditions. High-risk adults can access coverage in 2014. A National High Risk Pool will provide health insurance coverage for high-risk adults for the gap period from 2010-2014. While some claim that the bill provides health insurance coverage to high-risk children within six months, in reality, the language appears to require insurers that elect to cover high-risk children provide coverage for their pre-existing conditions. The loophole here is that health insurance companies are not obligated to cover high-risk children, or if they do, can charge any price for coverage - which leaves a lot of room for the neediest to be excluded. If the health care reform bills had been vetted at the committee level, as they should have been, a glaring loophole like this could have been addressed.

For the first time in the history of our nation, the government will force citizens to purchase health care insurance that meets government requirements. The individuals and many companies that fail to purchase insurance will face penalties, driving up the cost of living and the cost of doing business. The government-approved health insurance plans will be offered through state-based insurance exchanges. If states do not create an exchange by 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services will set up an exchange for the state. Although President Obama has promised repeatedly that everyone who likes their current health insurance plan can keep it, the exchange likely will become, over time, the dominant marketplace for insurance, as tax subsidies for people with income up to 400% of the federal poverty level (about $90,000 for a family of 4 in 2014) are available only for insurance sold through the Exchange.

On March 26, 2010, I introduced a bill (H.R. 4951) to fix a loophole that exempted the President, Vice President, Administration officials, and certain congressional staff from participating in the health insurance exchanges created by the Democrats' flawed health care bill. My bill requires participation by the President, Vice President, political appointees, all Members of Congress, and all Congressional staff, including committee and leadership staff. If Americans must abide by the law, then it should be good enough for the politicians who pushed so hard for this bill's passage.

It also remains to be seen how Democrats plan to improve health care for seniors when the new law makes $500 billion in Medicare cuts in order to fund the bill, which disrupts a health care plan that senior citizens have paid for, and on which they continue to rely. In addition, for the first time, Congress has institutionalized a federal program that will fund abortions. These unresolved issues greatly concern me, and go against everything I have worked towards over the course my career. Please rest assured that I will continue to seek ways to fund quality health care for senior citizens, and prevent federal funding for abortions.

I have joined Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in his effort to repeal unconstitutional sections of the health care legislation that infringe on the constitutional rights of Texans. In particular, I believe the individual mandate, special deals for certain states, and state-funded Medicaid expansions are all questionable under the Constitution.

I believe that we must be more focused, targeted, and deliberate in our efforts, specifically addressing each of the different health care issues individually, in order of priority. I have personally introduced, or have introduced jointly with fellow Members of Congress from both sides of the aisle, over 30 health-related bills that would address many of these individual problems, ranging from ensuring that patients have access to doctors, enacting medical justice reform, helping patients with pre-existing conditions, and fixing the declining Medicare reimbursement rates doctors face. Other Republican Members of Congress have also introduced bills that offer legitimate solutions to our health care problems. They are all pieces of the puzzle in the larger discussion on health care reform.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your views with me. The health care debate is not over and will continue to move forward. I urge you to visit the Congressional Health Care Caucus website ( www.healthcaucus.org ) to learn more about solutions to transform our health care system, read articles, watch video, and share your opinions. I also encourage you to visit my website and sign-up for my monthly e-newsletter at (burgess.house.gov) to learn more about the issues impacting the 26th Congressional District of Texas and our nation. Please continue to keep in touch with me; I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely,

Michael C. Burgess, M.D.
Member of Congress

Received by email 3/31/2010 3:23:43 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time

i like burgess, as much as i like my own rep. Kenny Marchant. texas 24
representing, coppell, irving, and grand prairie

Judge Napolitano sat in for Glenn Beck, with FL. Atty. Gen. Bill McCollum, who has sued over this legislation. It is very simply unconstitutional, as the right of the feds does not extend to making us purchase a dang thing from a private business. States retain that power, as with driver's licenses, the requirement for insurance in their responsibility, as is the regulation of the insurance industry.
Fox News usually reruns the Beck program and this is worth watching.

I think this is all ridiculous. The States are sovereign. The Feds were governed by the States.

The States made a mistake and need to cancel the feds out and start over before the Feds militarily strike the States first.

I have been saying for years…this is the “United States…of America…â€