Letter from Congressman Smith

Knowing of your leadership role and your interesting in issues affecting the State of Nebraska, I am writing to update you on recent developments in Congress.

As you may know, on November 7, 2009, the Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) passed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 220-215. Unfortunately, this legislation would fail to provide American's access to affordable and quality health care at a price tag our nation could afford. Instead, H.R. 3962 would authorize a government takeover of health care, costing taxpayers $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years and would put government bureaucrats between patients and their doctors. Additionally, H.R. 3962 would cost 5.5 million jobs and impose $729.5 billion in new taxes on small businesses.

Unfortunately, the Senate-passed version of this legislation is not any more promising. According to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, in just six years under this legislation the Nebraska Medicaid program will cummulatively grow by nearly $2.5 billion. While the Senate version included an agreement to secure federal funding for the State of Nebraska to extend this coverage, the House version did not, and there is no assurance the assistance will be included in the final bill. Excluding this provision means a $2.5 billion unfunded mandate, the cost of which is passed to Nebraskans through taxes and fees.

You may be interested to know, I voted for a health care alternative which would guarantee access to affordable care regardless of pre-existing conditions or past illnesses, prevent insurers from unjustly canceling a policy or instituting lifetime spending caps, and give small businesses the power to pool together and offer health care at lower prices. In addition, legislation I support would provide incentive payments to states which reduce premiums and their number of uninsured individuals.

By using market-based principles such as reducing costs through limits on medical malpractice lawsuites, expanding health savings accounts, and allowing consumers to buy insurance from out-of-state companies, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed the bill I support would reduce health care premiums by up to 10 percent and lower the federal budget deficit by $68 billion.

Rest assured as House and Senate leadership begin merging markedly different versions of an overhaul, I will work to ensure affordable health care for all Americans without burdening States and taxpayers.

As always, please feel free to contact me regarding this or any other issue of your concern. http://adriansmith.house.gov/