Response From Congressman David Scott

Compliments of Dustin, the ugly comment is his, not that I don't disagree....

Freaking wind bag...

----- Original Message -----

From: Congressman David Scott

Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2011 9:46 AM

Subject: Response From Congressman David Scott

Dear Mr. Johnson: 

Thank you for contacting me regarding the repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I appreciate your thoughts on this issue. 

Throughout the past year, I have received both positive and critical feedback from constituents of the 13th district regarding my decision last year to vote in favor of the health care law. Since the bill's passage, there have been several provisions that have already begun to affect citizens across the country. Some of the provisions include the extension of health insurance to dependents age 26 and under as part o f their parents health insurance plans, and the $250 payment to seniors who enter the Medicare donut hole. Small businesses began to receive tax credits in order to assist them in purchasing health insurance for their employees. The bill also created a series of high risk pools for constituents whose health insurance was denied due to a pre-existing condition. Preventative services are also of no cost to members of insurance plans. Regardless, there are still calls for the health care law to be repealed before its full implementation date of 2014. While I understand the anger that the health care legislation created, I voted against H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, for several reasons.  

Repealing the recently passed health care reform bill would have distressing effect on the economy. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, enacting H.R. 2 would probably increase federal budget deficits over the 2012–2019 period by a total of roughly $145 billion. In addition, adding two more years (through 2021) brings the projected increase in deficits to approximately $230 billion. Under H.R. 2, about 32 million fewer nonelderly people would have health insurance in 2019, leaving a total of about 54 million nonelderly people uninsured. The share of legal nonelderly residents with insurance coverage in 2019 would be about 83 percent, compared with a projected share of 94 percent under current law.  

 In addition to the adding to the federal budget deficit, the passage of H.R. 2 would eliminate crucial and popular provisions of the health care law that have already been put in place. In Georgia, 80,400 Medicare beneficiaries received a one-time, tax-free $250 rebate to help pay for prescription drugs in the "donut hole" coverage gap in 2010.  Medicare beneficiaries who fall into the "donut hole" in 2011 will be eligible for 50 percent discounts on covered brand name prescription drugs.  Without the law, the burden of high prescription drug costs would hurt millions of Medicare beneficiaries across the country.  Nearly 1.2 million seniors in Georgia who have Medicare coverage would be forced to pay a co-pay to receive important preventive services, like mammograms and colonoscopies. More than 5 million residents of Georgia with private insurance coverage would be vulnerable again to having lifetime limits placed on how much insurance companies will spend on their health care. 

An examination of trends in health spending over the past 50 years shows that if health reform measures proposed by previous presidents had been enacted and slowed the growth in spending by as little as 1.0 or 1.5 percentage points annually, spending trends in the U.S. would have been closer to those seen in other major industrialized countries and fewer adverse health consequences and economic burdens would have been borne by American families, businesses, and government. History shows that even modest cost-cutting has a significant impact over time and that inaction has a cost. The longer we wait to address the underlying problems in the U.S. health care system, the more health spending will continue on its rapid rise and the more drastic the measures that will be required to right our economy and our federal budget. Congress was right to move ahead. After 50 years of spiraling health care costs and the resulting price paid by American families, business, and government, we could no longer afford to postpone health reform. 

Again, I thank you for sharing your views with me. I hope you will continue to give me the benefit of your opinion in the future. In addition, I encourage you to visit my web site at http://davidscott.house.gov, where you can view the latest news and obtain information on issues and legislation that is important to you. You can also sign up for my electronic newsletter, and receive periodic updates on my activities as your representative in Washington. Thank you again for contacting me, and I look forward to continuing to serve you.

Sincerely,
David Scott
Member of Congress