Congressman Doc Hastings

Washington, Jun 29, 2012 - It has been almost two and a half years since the 2,700-page health care law was written behind closed doors by Congressional Democrats and President Obama and rammed through Congress with little input from the American people.  In that time, the law has hurt our economy by driving up health costs and making it harder for small businesses to grow and hire employees.

Without a full repeal of ObamaCare, millions of Americans will continue to lose their current health coverage, the government will mandate which health care plans you can use, and unelected unaccountable bureaucrats will be put in charge of making health care decisions that should be made by individuals, families and doctors – all while adding trillions to our ever growing national debt.  

Furthermore, this law charges the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to check up on taxpayers to ensure that they have purchased an “acceptable” insurance plan.  If not, the IRS will tax you for choosing not to purchase a government-approved plan, and can withhold your tax refund if you don’t.  Already one of the most intrusive government agencies, this new IRS expansion will require nearly $10 billion more of your money over the next decade, and may require up to as many as 16,500 additional IRS agents.

Everyone agrees that improvements must be made to our health care system.  I believe that every individual and family can make better choices concerning their health coverage than the government can.  That is why I have voted 30 times to repeal, defund, and eliminate all and parts of this job destroying, government-knows-best approach to health care.  

Americans deserve access to the quality health care they need when they need it and at a cost they can afford.  For too many Americans this is not the reality and, under this law, it will only get worse.  I and the rest of my Republican colleagues in Congress will continue to support full repeal of the law so we can move forward with a different approach – one that protects the patient-doctor relationship from government intrusion and puts patients first.  I am hopeful that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will join us in this common sense approach.