November 7, 2009

McIntyre Says Health Care Reform Is Necessary But Must Be Done In A Fiscally Responsible Manner And In Targeted Steps

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Mike McIntyre, who will vote no on the health care bill in the U.S. House of Representatives, released the following statement:

“The need for health care reform is clear, but the focus should be on lowering the skyrocketing costs of health care, bringing down the cost of premiums, and ensuring access and affordability of health care for all.

“During these tough economic times, I could not support this bill because it was flawed in four major ways:

1. It costs way too much money – more than $1 trillion dollars on top of a $12 trillion national debt;
2. It does not take the steps necessary to effectively bring down long-term health care costs;
3. It raises too much in new taxes and imposes new requirements that will harm the ability of too many small businesses to compete and create jobs; and
4. It tries to do too much too soon instead of targeted changes that can immediately help people.

“Instead, we should tackle health care reform in targeted ways. Those include:
1. strengthening Medicare and Medicaid;
2. improving Medicare reimbursement rates for rural health providers,
3. expanding the use of electronic medical records;
4. expanding and strengthening community health centers;
5. allowing small business owners to join pools of coverage to access better insurance rates;
6. allowing states to form compacts to allow the purchase of insurance across state lines; and
7. providing tax credits for  long-term care.

“These are just some of the many examples where we can make needed health care changes without further bankrupting the country, and I remain committed to meaningful reform that maintains cost-effective principles that put our nation again on the path to reform.”