Congressman Renacci Urges Repeal of Obamacare

Statement

Today, Congressman Jim Renacci (OH-16) released the following statement in response to the one year anniversary of President Obama signing his health care reform into law:

"Last year, Democrats used a closed legislative process and backroom deals to force through a government overhaul of healthcare, despite broad opposition from the American people. One year later, it is apparent that this health care law has raised taxes, increased premiums, added burdensome regulations, and substantially increased the cost of health care. The key to making health care more affordable lies in increasing competition and coordination while eliminating unnecessary overhead costs in the system, not creating a new entitlement program that does the opposite. I will proudly continue the fight to defund and dismantle ObamaCare and ensure that this law is replaced with common-sense reforms that lower health care costs."

On January 19, 2011, Congressman Renacci voted with House Republicans to repeal ObamaCare, which passed by a vote of 245-189. On March 3, 2011, the House passed H.R. 4, a bill to repeal the job-destroying Form 1099 reporting requirements that were added in ObamaCare. Congressman Renacci also voted for H.R. 1, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011, which included amendments to prohibit funds to implement ObamaCare in FY2011 and to pay the salaries of federal employees carrying out provisions of ObamaCare.

Congressman Renacci supports the following Republican solutions that will make health care and health insurance more affordable and improve the health care system:

* Allow individuals to buy health insurance across state lines.When insurance companies are forced to compete for business nationwide, both competition and choice increases. Giving people the choice to buy plans without unnecessary state mandates will also lower their premiums.
* Curb frivolous lawsuits through medical malpractice reform to lower the cost of malpractice premiums and reduce overhead costs on hospitals. It will also help eliminate the need for the practice of defensive medicine, which will reduce health care costs by as much as $200 billion a year.
* Permanently end taxpayer funding of abortionand subsidies for insurance policies that cover abortion.
* Improve and expand high-risk poolsso people with pre-existing conditions can get access to affordable health insurance.
* Encourage small business health plans to allow small businesses to pool together through Association Health Plans (AHPs) to leverage lower cost health insurance on behalf of their employees.
* Remove 1099 reporting requirementswhich are extremely time consuming and burdensome for small businesses, particularly during a time when they need to focus on creating jobs, not filing paperwork.
* Create new HSA incentivesso people can keep more of their hard-earned money and play a greater role in their health care decisions.

Additionally, Congressman Renacci supports the following elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) as part of a replacement health care bill:

* Eliminate lifetime or annual spending capson essential benefits.
* Prevent insurers from unjustly cancelling a policy (also known as rescission) simply because the enrollee made an error on their application form.
* Increase wellness incentivesStarting in 2014, employers will be allowed to give a premium discount or rewards of 30% to 50% of the cost of coverage for employees who successfully complete wellness programs.

Source