Posts tagged Americans

US Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Council Republican Conference, today issued the following statement on the Council Democratic shape care bill: Senator Reid’s bill is appropriate for the season: it’s the same turkey you didn’t like in Dignified, and it’s not going to taste any better on Thanksgiving. Not much has changed. The bill still means higher premiums, it still means higher taxes, and it still cuts Medicare. It’s still 2000 pages, and it still costs more than $2 trillion when fully implemented — and that doesn’t take into account a split up-trillion-dollar doctors Medicare reimbursement. And it still sends struggling states new Medicaid costs that will force states to raise taxes or hurt higher education or both. The two most vital new parts of the bill make it even worse. There’s a new payroll tax that is exactly the incorrect medicine when there’s 10 percent unemployment. And there’s a new regime-run insurance program into which millions of Americans will be pushed when their employers drop their shape care coverage as a result of this bill. We need to start over. We should go step-by-step to lower shape care costs using the steps that Republicans have repeatedly proposed: let small businesses pool assets for shape insurance; allow purchasing of shape insurance across state lines; end junk lawsuits against doctors; eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse; expand shape savings accounts; and promote wellness and prevention.