|
HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL PASSES IN HOUSE
Congressman Scott Murphy votes with the opposition
Carole Osterink
ccSCOOP Editor
11-08-09 - 7:52 a.m. - The Affordable Health Care for America Act (H.R. 3962) passed by a narrow margin (220 yes to 215 no) in the House of Representatives last night. Congressman Scott Murphy was one of only 39 Democrats to vote against the bill. Only one Republican—Anh Cao of Louisiana—voted in support of the legislation.
After last night's vote, Murphy issued the following statement about his decision to vote against the bill.
"I spent the past six months traveling the 20th District holding more
than 100 events to have an open and honest discussion about health care
with the people of our district. As your Congressman, I firmly believe
that health care reform is critical to strengthening our nation.
However, in order to achieve this goal, we must address the
fundamentally flawed system that has led to skyrocketing costs, bankrupt
families and extremely profitable insurance companies. For these
reasons, I voted no on H.R. 3962 tonight."
"This bill makes a number of important reforms, which I wholeheartedly
support including the elimination of the lifetime caps on insurance
benefits and the pre-existing condition exclusion, invests in prevention
and primary care, creates a health insurance exchange to force insurance
companies to compete and offers a public option for people who want to
get away from for-profit insurance companies.
"However, I have consistently said that any bill that Congress passes
must curb costs and keep health care affordable in the long term. During
these difficult economic times, an unacceptably high price tag will
stress our already overstretched federal budget and place even more
burdens on our hard working individuals, families and small businesses.
We need to fix the system now, and not put off the hard choices for
another generation. Furthermore, I am deeply frustrated by the last
minute addition of over $50 billion in taxes on the two largest private
employers in the 20th District—medical device manufacturers and paper
mills.
"As a small businessman, I am also concerned that H.R. 3962 falls short
of making health insurance affordable for the small businesses of the
20th District; it fails to reform the fundamentally flawed incentives in
the system, which continue to drive costs upward; and it fails to
restrain the monopolistic practices of private insurers, which allow
them to continue to increase premiums already weighing on families and
small businesses.
"I remain committed to the goal of providing quality, affordable health
care and I will continue to fight to change the broken health care
system for America's families."
Last Thursday, a small group of representatives of the "Tea Party," who oppose government-run healthcare, visited Congressman Murphy's headquarters in Hudson. One by one, they entered the building to express their opinion that Murphy should vote against the bill. According to Murphy's staff on Thursday, the congressman was still studying the bill and had not decided how he would vote. They explained that there were some things about the bill that were problematic, citing reductions in Medicare coverage and a mandate for small businesses to provide health insurance for their employees or face a penalty.
Click here to hear a statement from Congressman Murphy |
|
Representatives of the "Tea Party" demonstrate in front of Congressman Murphy's headquarters in Hudson on November 4 |
Click here for the full text of H.R. 3962
|
