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Who voted for Pelosi-care?
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Shorty after the votes were tallied, the lists came out. In North Carolina, only 5 out of 13 representatives voted for the bill while only 5 out of 13 representatives are Republicans. The question then begs, while expecting the Republicans to vote against the bill, why is it that 3 North Carolina Democratic Congressmen voted against it?
A letter from Congressman Larry Kissell to House Speaker Pelosi gives clues as to why he voted against her bill. The letter speaks mostly of his concern for senior care and the cuts to Medicare programs. In the letter, he writes, "Madame Speaker, it is never the right time to shortchange seniors the care and dignity they are due; and this is certainly not the time to gut an industry that is one of the few still hiring people in our rural communities. I urge you to join me in the fight to eliminate cuts in Medicare and Home Health care as exist in the current House health care reform plan."
The bill passed on Saturday shows a 20 percent cut in Medicare. Clearly, Ms. Pelosi did not agree with Mr. Kissell.
Congressman Heath Shuler of North Carolina's 11th district is known to be a "Blue Dog" Democrat. Essentially, he has more of a conservative leaning.
From Congressman Mike McIntyre, of North Carolina's 7th district: The next lines are a direct quote from his website.
“The need for health care reform is clear, but the focus should be on lowering the skyrocketing costs of health care, bringing down the cost of premiums, and ensuring access and affordability of health care for all.
“During these tough economic times, I could not support this bill because it was flawed in four major ways:
1. It costs way too much money – more than $1 trillion dollars on top of a $12 trillion national debt;
2. It does not take the steps necessary to effectively bring down long-term health care costs;
3. It raises too much in new taxes and imposes new requirements that will harm the ability of too many small businesses to compete and create jobs; and
4. It tries to do too much too soon instead of targeted changes that can immediately help people.
“Instead, we should tackle health care reform in targeted ways. Those include:
1. strengthening Medicare and Medicaid;
2. improving Medicare reimbursement rates for rural health providers,
3. expanding the use of electronic medical records;
4. expanding and strengthening community health centers;
5. allowing small business owners to join pools of coverage to access better insurance rates;
6. allowing states to form compacts to allow the purchase of insurance across state lines; and
7. providing tax credits for long-term care.
“These are just some of the many examples where we can make needed health care changes without further bankrupting the country, and I remain committed to meaningful reform that maintains cost-effective principles that put our nation again on the path to reform.”
End of quote
With the logic of over spending in tough economic times, and the increased tax burden on the American people, how can we stand for anyone to have voted for such a bill, which really does not save anyone money? For more on this, read here.
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