Representative Mike Kelly Issues Statement on Supreme Court Decision to Hear Challenge to President's Health Care Law

Statement

Representative Mike Kelly (PA-03) issued the following statement in response to today's announcement by the U.S. Supreme Court that it will hear a challenge by small businesses and 26 states to President Obama's health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, also known as Obamacare:

"When President Obama was campaigning during the 2008 presidential election, he said he was going to "fundamentally transform' America. As part of that goal, he signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which amounted to a government takeover of one-sixth of the U.S. economy, forever changing health care as we know it.

"Since the law was enacted, we have learned more and more about this flawed legislation, including the fact that it will cost the U.S. more than a trillion dollars to implement in the first 10 years; that it steals $500 billion from Medicare, which is on the verge of bankruptcy; that tens of millions of Americans will lose their current form of insurance, whether they like it or not; and that it will result in the loss of roughly 800,000 jobs.

"Today, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to the law regarding one of its most far-reaching and consequential provisions: the individual mandate. This mandate would require every American to purchase health insurance or face a penalty. This marks a level of government overreach and intrusion unlike anything we've seen before, which is why I signed an amicus brief stating my belief that the mandate is unconstitutional and needs to be overturned.

"Meanwhile, I will continue to work with my colleagues on legislation that will actually lower health care costs and increase access without compromising our quality of care and limiting choice. Most of all, I will work toward achieving health care reform that will not infringe upon our constitutional rights, which I swore to protect and defend and will continue to do so as long as I'm in office."

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