A Message from Congressman Engel

Dear Friends,

 

I found it to be very puzzling that after the American people made it loud and clear that job creation and the economy were the most important issues facing our nation today, the new House Majority felt compelled to instead grandstand with their first major act of 2011.  Knowing full well that the Senate would never support it, and that President Obama would veto it, if it ever reached his desk, the Majority tried to score points by passing a repeal of last year's landmark Affordable Care Act.

Make no mistake about it -  the majority felt compelled to remove health care coverage from 30 million Americans rather than take up any jobs bill that their colleagues in the Senate managed to repeatedly block last year.  This was nothing but a charade and a terrible way to show the American people that they plan to work in a bipartisan nature this year to fix the many problems facing our nation.  If it became law, the repeal of the Affordable Care Act could cause some Americans to get so sick their lives could be in jeopardy, and it would certainly bankrupt others.  It is irresponsible governance and diverts the focus from putting Americans back to work, and instead would put millions of others out of work.

Repeal would take away health care from over 30 million people, forcibly remove young adults, up to age 26, from their parents’ health plans, leaving them vulnerable to health crises, it would reopen the ‘donut’ hole to increase costs to seniors for prescription drugs, and empower insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions – which includes HALF of the American population.  If the Majority was serious about fixing the health care system, surely there are ways we could work together to improve the bill.  However, I wonder since there was no comprehensive reform which took place during the many years they controlled the House, Senate and Presidency.  This repeal was not governing, this was grandstanding.

Instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater, we should get together and try to make the law better.  Every major piece of legislation has been tweaked over time - the Civil Rights laws were done in several stages, Social Security has been altered, Medicare has had changes, etc.  The Affordable Care Act is not perfect and certainly we can find middle ground on some changes.

The reality for Americans is that repealing the Affordable Care Act would:

• Deny insurance to 32 million Americans – once again placing the burden of care upon more expensive emergency rooms.
• Explode the deficit by $230 billion by 2021, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
• Re-open the “donut” hole for Medicare Part D prescription drugs increasing costs for millions of seniors,
• Force young Americans up to 26 years old to be removed from their parents’ plans and be on their own should catastrophic health issues occur,
• Allow insurance companies to deny coverage to ailing Americans with pre-existing conditions, and to cap the coverage of others who are in great need of care,
• Increase the taxes on small businesses who provide health care for their employees,
• Halt the preventative cancer screenings and annual check-ups for seniors,
• Force high-risk Medicare patients who are hospitalized to be continually readmitted, rather than allow for comparable services in community care programs,
• Stop advances in health care technology rather than looking ahead at new and innovative ways to care for Americans in the 21st century and beyond.

For District 17 in New York (Bronx, Rockland, Westchester Counties), the consequences of repeal would mean (according to statistics provided by the House Energy and Commerce Committee):

• Up to 289,000 people would be vulnerable to coverage denials from insurance companies, including up to 42,000 children, due to pre-existing conditions,
• 400,000 people would lose consumer protections from their employer-based insurance or private insurance,
• Up to 15,000 small businesses and 136,000 families would lose health care tax credits,
• 7,000 seniors would pay more for prescription drugs from the re-opening of the “donut” hole in the Medicare Part D drug plan,
• 91,000 seniors would be denied preventative care benefits, halting treatments which could nip devastating diseases in the bud,
• 9,300 early retirees would have their health costs increased
• 2,700 young adults would have their new health coverage eliminated,
• 49,000 more people would be left without health insurance
• $312 million annually would be added to the costs of local hospitals to provide uncompensated care.

I call on the Majority to come forward with suggestions to make the law better, rather than totally scrap it.   If they have a plan to cover the 30 million people we are covering, and are able to do so with a Congressional Budget Office score better than ours, then I welcome the discussion.  I am certain the over-200 organizations opposed to the repeal would agree.

Sincerely,

Eliot L. Engel
MEMBER OF CONGRESS