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Monday, November 02, 2009

MARYLAND SENATE'S ONLY DOCTOR SPEAKS OUT AGAINST PELOSICARE, PROPOSES ALTERNATIVES


Annapolis, MD - Last week, the long-awaited final U.S. House of Representatives “health care reform” bill, HR3962, was released by Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

While it was claimed that the House version of “health care reform” would solve many of the problems with health care delivery and insurance in the United States, a closer examination of the 1,990 page bill shows just the opposite.

“This bill raises taxes by over a half trillion dollars. Worse than that, it taxes medical innovation, and removes tax deductions for employers who supplement Medicare Part D Drug coverage for seniors. It is just another example of runaway taxing and spending in Washington, and does little to deal with the real problems facing the health care system in the United States”, says Senator Andy Harris, the only physician in the Maryland State Senate.

“Instead of extending innovative health care insurance products to millions of uninsured Americans, or expanding affordable coverage by allowing the sale of insurance across state lines, HR3962 sets up a government-run public option plan, paid for by taxpayers. It also establishes a government mandate that will harm small businesses when they are most vulnerable - during this economic downturn. Instead of creating jobs, they will be forced to pay ever higher taxes, and will actually have incentives not to expand or hire additional workers.”

Dr. Harris also noted that HR3962 will require state governments to spend more on Medicaid at a time when state budgets are already bankrupt. “HR3962 will force Maryland to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years in additional Medicaid spending – at a time when we are projected to run two to three billion dollar deficits. The math simply doesn’t add up.”

Senator Harris supports common-sense health care reform measures that would save taxpayer dollars, decrease the cost of health insurance, expand coverage, and reduce the deficit, including:

-Establishing private health care insurance “exchanges”

-Meaningful tort reform

-Expansion of Health Savings Accounts

-Allowing health insurance sales across state lines

-Allowing tax deductibility for individual purchases of health insurance

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Senator Harris has good common sense. To bad once they get elected most politicians seem to just do what they are told by the leadership. I believe Senator Harris is a real man who will stand up for what he believes in like Ronald Reagan, not a wimp like Kratovil who does whatever Obama and Pelosi tells him to do. If that were not true Kratovil would state that he would vote against the health care bill because that is what the people that voted for him want him to do.

Orsonwells said...

Go, Andy! BE LOUD! You have a lot of people behind you.

Anonymous said...

Erlich/Harris next election!!!