As Members of Congress prepare to head back to their districts for the month of August, without having voted on a health care reform bill, it is a fitting time to summarize the state of the debate.

According to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, more Americans believe the President’s health plan is a bad idea (42 percent) than a good idea (36 percent).  A New York Times/CBS poll confirms those findings and adds that 69 percent were “concerned that the quality of their own care would decline if the government created a program that covers everyone.”

Republicans, and many Democrats, agree with the American public: the President and Speaker Pelosi’s government takeover of our health care system is fundamentally flawed.  The legislation threatens to:

• Decrease the quality of health care Americans currently receive;
• Cause 2 out of 3 Americans to lose their current health plan;
• Massively increase deficits;
• Force costs to skyrocket for those who already have health insurance; and, 
• Impose a host of new taxes on individuals and businesses that would further hamper efforts to revive an already struggling economy.

Worse yet, the bill violates oft-repeated promises by the President and others that health care reform won’t cause people to lose coverage they like, that taxes won’t increase on families with income less than $250,000, and that tax rates won’t increase above what they were during the 1990s.

Republicans, standing with the American people, are united in opposition to a government takeover of our health care system.  In the Ways and Means Committee, Republicans offered 38 amendments to improve the legislation.  While Democrats were able to block every amendment, a handful of Democrats repeatedly broke ranks and sided with Republicans.  

While Republicans support strengthening our health care system, the reasons for opposing the President and Speaker’s plan for a government take over of health care are many.  The core reasons are laid out in detail in the dissenting views of Ways and Means Republicans.

To read more about the Republican plan to reduce health care costs for all Americans while targeting assistance to those who truly cannot afford health insurance, please click here.

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