Response from Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-GA (Health Care Bill)

E-mail | November 6, 2010 | Sen. Johnny Isakson

[Heart of Georgia]

Thank you for contacting me regarding the health care reform law. I appreciate the comments you have shared with me and the opportunity to respond.

As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee as well as a former small business owner, I am aware of the problems our nation faces regarding health care and am sensitive to the struggles the average, hard-working American faces when trying to gain access to adequate and affordable health care.

I have always believed in looking for solutions for ways to provide access to affordable health care to individuals who lack access to health insurance through an employer.

However, I voted against the deeply flawed health care bill that was passed by the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives and signed by President Obama on March 30, 2010.

The thousands of Georgians I have heard from on this issue are very leery of being pushed into a government-run system that will have to be paid for with higher taxes.

I believe this health care bill will raise taxes, raise premiums, cut benefits for seniors who rely on Medicare and place a massive unfunded mandates on the states with an expansion of Medicaid.

I believe Congress should start over with a step-by-step process. In addition, I support the efforts of the state attorneys general who are suing the federal government over the constitutionality of the new federal mandate requiring all individuals to carry insurance policies.

The tax increases in this bill will be massive, immediate and couldn't come at a worse time for families and small businesses. As soon as the bill was passed in March, at least 14 companies - including AT&T, Verizon, John Deere, Caterpillar and Lockheed Martin - announced they would have to take millions of dollars in charges against their 2010 first-quarter earnings because the health care bill eliminates the tax-free subsidies they have been receiving as an incentive to provide prescription drug benefits to their retirees. This will have a devastating impact on small businesses and jobs.

The key to health care reform is stimulating competition in a market-based system that will encourage private health insurers and managed care providers to compete for business and make health insurance more affordable for consumers. I also believe Congress should look carefully into proposals that will increase coverage of preventative and wellness care, which will help control the cost of managing chronic diseases and drive down the cost of treating largely preventable conditions. Please know that I will keep your thoughts and concerns in mind as we address these issues in the U.S. Senate.

Thank you again for contacting me, and please do not hesitate to call on me again if I can ever be of service to you.

Sincerely, Johnny Isakson United States Senator

[Heart of Georgia]

“It shouldn’t be this hard, though, to get our elected officials to represent our best interests.”

I know, I say that all the time myself. I’d like to send every one of them a “United States Constitution for Dummies” book.

[Fantasywriter]

We should be concerned. All we want is repeal. It doesn’t take a health care bill to deal with out of control malpractice lawsuits, illegals bilking the system, the lack of competition and the insane number of mandates. But the RINOs keep talking about ‘repeal and replace’. I bet that ‘replace’ is gonna leave a mark...on us.

[Fantasywriter]

The best we can do is give them a political death or near-death experience in 2012. Sooner or later they will get it. I just hope the momentum builds, and the electorate is even more fired up in two years.

[Heart of Georgia]

“It doesn’t take a health care bill to deal with out of control malpractice lawsuits, illegals bilking the system, the lack of competition and the insane number of mandates.”

It was simple really.

But the trial lawyers and La Raza lobbied any efforts to limit them, and of course the insurance companies did too because they don’t want competition.

So their answer, a boondoggle bill that imposes more tax and more power given to the IRS — and an even greater price paid in the loss of privacy and freedoms. But, hey, as long as those other guys are happy...

[Fantasywriter]

Fortunately it didn’t exactly work out for them. They got ‘Shellacked’, to use Obama’s term. Now if we can just keep fear percolating in the RINOs, we may get out from under the Obamacare juggernaut after all. If not—hand them their butts in 2012.

Congress got out of control because for too many years they misbehaved with impunity. Finally they are paying a price. They will straighten up if they see the voters are serious.

Unfortunately, there are probably some (hopefully not many) who think 2010 was an aberration. If enough of them lose seats in 2012, we will have gotten their attention in a serious way.

[Pining_4_TX]

Amen! The reason health insurance is so expensive is due to state legislatures forcing insurers to cover this, that, and the other. Nobody can buy just the coverage they want. Some things, like chiropractic and mental health treatments, go on forever, and even if you don’t choose to participate, you are paying for everyone who does. It’s just another form of socialism, and socialism always fails.