SENATOR COLLINS' STATEMENT ON HEALTH CARE VOTE
U.S. Senator Susan Collins released this statement following Sunday’s health care vote in the House of Representatives:
“There is simply no question that our nation’s health care system requires substantial reform. The status quo of soaring health care costs, families struggling, millions uninsured, and health care provider shortages across our state and nation is unacceptable. From the beginning, the question has been how to best make these improvements without making the situation worse.
“Over the past year, I have met with hundreds of Mainers— from health care providers, to struggling small business owners, self-employed individuals, displaced workers, and human resource managers of large companies. Time and again, they have told me that the greatest barrier to health care coverage today is cost.
“The American people are upset with Congress, and rightfully so. We lost an opportunity to work together to write a bipartisan bill that would expand access, rein in the cost of health care, and improve quality.
“It didn’t have to be this way. The bitter rhetoric and partisan gridlock of the past year have obscured a very important fact: that there are many health care reforms that have overwhelming support in both parties. We could have agreed, for example, on generous tax credits for self-employed individuals and small businesses to help them afford health insurance, therefore reducing the number of uninsured. We could have agreed on insurance market reforms that would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to children who have pre-existing conditions, permit children to remain on their parents’ policies until age 26, require standardized claim forms to reduce costs, and allow consumers to purchase insurance across state lines.
“Instead, we have a divisive, partisan bill that would raise taxes and premiums for many Americans, threaten seniors’ access to Medicare by cutting more than $500 billion, and reduce choices for consumers. The reconciliation bill released by Democrats does not improve the Senate bill; it makes it worse. It would cut even more from Medicare, a program that already has long-term financing problems. These deep cuts will threaten Medicare’s stability and jeopardize our rural hospitals, home health agencies and nursing homes.
“The new bill nearly triples the penalty – from $750 to $2,000 per employee-- on businesses that cannot afford to provide health coverage to their employees and applies the penalty to part-time as well as full-time workers. Worse, the penalty hits small businesses with 50 or more employees very hard – these businesses could face penalties of more than $40,000 if they add a single uncovered worker. This will not only discourage small businesses from hiring employees, but possibly encourage them to eliminate jobs. Even small businesses that provide coverage have to pay the $3000 penalty for each worker who declines coverage and purchases insurance through the exchange. This simply does not make sense. Here in Maine, more than 97 percent of employers are small businesses, and nearly 120,000 Mainers work for firms with fewer than 20 employees.
“This bill not only fails to address some of the fundamental problems with our health care system, including the skyrocketing cost of health care, but also still includes special “sweetheart” deals that benefit just a few states like Louisiana and Connecticut, but do nothing for most states, including Maine. This is not good public policy.
“It is unfortunate that Democratic leaders have chosen to use procedures that will cut off debate and limit amendments to a bill that affects every single American and one-sixth of our nation’s economy. This will invariably result in legislation that is not nearly as well thought out as it should be and will be divisive and partisan. I am disappointed that we have missed an opportunity to work together, in a bipartisan manner, to draft a health care bill that achieves the consensus goals of providing more choices of coverage, containing the escalating cost of health care, and helping small businesses afford health insurance for their employees.”
