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Tennessee Valley Lawmakers React to Health Care Vote

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CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) - History is made in the US House Sunday night as Democrats pass a sweeping health care reform bill.

The historic legislation extends health care to tens of millions of Americans who don't have insurance now.

The bill passed mainly along party lines, with Republicans unanimously voting in opposition.

Lawmakers across the Tennessee Valley are weighing in on the vote.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN)

"This is an historic mistake. And unlike Social Security, Medicare and civil rights legislation, the only thing bipartisan about it is the opposition to it.

  The mistake is to expand a health care delivery system that is already too expensive instead of reducing its cost so more Americans can afford health insurance.

  This taxes job creators in the middle of a recession. It means Medicare cuts and premium  increases for millions of Americans. When you include the cost of paying doctors who serve Medicare patients, it will increase the national debt.

  It will force governors to cut higher education funding, and raise taxes and tuition to pay for new Medicaid costs. In Tennessee, the governor says the cost will be $1.1 billion or more over five years.

  And the last-minute Washington takeover of the student loan program will add a half trillion more to the debt and overcharge 19 million student loans to help pay for health care."

Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)

"The American people have spoken out against this health care bill and it's unfortunate that the president and Democrats have chosen to ignore their concerns and force passage," said Chambliss. "Cuts to Medicare, tax increases and special deals do not represent meaningful reform. This bill is a political victory that will only make health care more expensive."

Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)

"Tonight's vote is disappointing, and its cost will hit our state and future generations very hard," said Corker. "On Friday, Governor Bredesen let me know this bill will cost Tennessee an estimated $1.1 billion in Medicaid expansion over five years – a huge unfunded mandate that creates a very difficult situation for our state.

  Beyond that, I think what bothers me most about the bill are its disingenuous accounting mechanisms. It's insulting to the American people. First, the bill applies 10 years of new taxes to finance six years of spending, resulting in huge deficits over the next decades. Second, even President Obama's own Medicare officials have determined that Medicare savings are counted TWICE in the bill, hiding the legislation's true cost. This comes down to elementary school logic; you can't spend the same dollar twice. And finally, almost as soon as the ink dries on this legislation, a new bill will come forth to deal with all or part of what is called the ‘doc fix' to ensure that physicians who treat Medicare recipients do not receive a 21 percent cut. The cost of that over 10 years is more than $200 billion, proving that Americans have not been dealt with squarely on the true accounting associated with this bill."

Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA)

  "Today's action by the House ignores the will of most Georgians and most Americans, who have expressed strong, vocal opposition to this deeply flawed, unpopular health care bill. This is the height of political arrogance," Isakson said. "Americans need a Congress and a President that are focused on fixing our struggling economy, not engineering a government takeover of our health care system.

  The reconciliation process was never intended for comprehensive policy changes, and I will work with my Republican colleagues in the Senate to fight this effort every step of the way. This has not been a thoughtful process, and it is an unfortunate way to do business.

  Democrats cannot hide the fact that when you're raising the type of revenues in this bill, that money is ultimately going to be paid by the consumer. Any time government raises taxes it raises the cost of living for the American people. It's a ruse and a masking of the actual fiscal effect on the United States of America.

  In a time of declining revenues and greater pressure for Georgia and every state, this bill is a recipe for disaster. It's not fair to say we're covering more people if we are bankrupting our states."

Representative Zach Wamp (R-TN)

"This is a defining moment in the history of our country. At no time has the federal legislature mandated that the American people buy anything. If this is enacted into law, everyone in this country has to buy health insurance under the force of law. This is not right. It is an unconstitutional effort in my view, and an extraordinary government takeover of one-sixth of our economy. We need to stand against it with everything that we have.

As a Tennessean, I'm gravely concerned about what this will do to our state. It will force hundreds of thousands of people onto TennCare, our state's Medicaid program. It is a multi-billion dollar mandate on Tennessee and we do not have the money to pay for it. We will not raise taxes, we will not have a state income tax and we will not go into debt because of this mandate. That's why Tennessee's Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen has called it the ‘mother of all unfunded mandates.' If it's enacted into law, I'm going to help lead the repeal effort. Based on our state sovereignty under the 10th Amendment, we have to stand against this federal government mandate on the states.

The health care system needs to be improved, but this bill is not the way to go. We should work incrementally on measures that will lower costs, increase access to more affordable care and give citizens more control over their health care decisions without a takeover by the federal government. The right kind of reform would offer access to coverage for all Americans, improve the health care delivery system, hold health insurance companies more accountable, rein in out of control costs and provide responsible medical liability reform."

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