Repeal of Obamacare Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. PLATTS. Madam Speaker, today's vote by the U.S. House of Representatives to repeal the health care law will ensure continued scrutiny of a complex law that was wrongly rushed through the legislative process and largely remains a mystery to a vast majority of the American people. Given that rising health care costs are the main driver of our Nation's long-term debt crisis, it is imperative for Congress to fully debate a policy that will have such dramatic ramifications for future generations of Americans.

The health care law was enacted more than two years ago. Yet health care costs continue to rise. Uncertain business owners are hesitant to invest and hire workers. And major portions of the law--including higher taxes on businesses, increased taxes on certain medical devices, and countless new regulations--have yet to even be implemented. This massive new entitlement program will cost taxpayers more than $2 trillion per decade, further burdening our already crippling national debt.

Truly reforming our health care system requires a common-sense, step-by-step approach that will lower costs and better ensure access to affordable, quality health care. Opponents of the health care law have long proposed alternative solutions--such as allowing small businesses to form health insurance pools and join together across state lines to purchase health insurance, medical malpractice liability reform, and insurance reforms addressing the issues of pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to remain on their parents' plans--that would achieve these goals.

The status quo in health care is clearly unacceptable. A narrow majority of the Supreme Court may have upheld the constitutionality of the health care law last week, but that does not change the fact that this law is clearly bad public policy. Congress must continue to press for true, common-sense reforms focused on lowering the cost of health care for all Americans.

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