Coats Commends House Passage of Obamacare Repeal

Press Release

Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) today applauded the House of Representatives for passing a bill to repeal the health care law and urged the Senate to act to overturn the law.

"Today the House of Representatives took the right step by voting for full repeal of Obamacare, a costly and intrusive government takeover of our health care system," said Coats. "The president's health care law raises the cost of health care for families, burdens job creators and state budgets and puts America deeper into debt. Obamacare has made the nation's ailing health care system weaker, not better.

"The so-called Affordable Care Act has proven to be anything but affordable," added Coats. "I urge my colleagues in the Senate to listen to the will of the people, overturn this deeply flawed law and replace it with common-sense solutions that will drive down costs and give Hoosiers -- not Washington bureaucrats -- the power to make their own health care decisions."

Today, Coats cosponsored an amendment offered by Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to the Increased Payroll Tax Credit and Bonus Depreciation bill (S.2237) currently on the Senate floor that would fully repeal the health care law. Coats also cosponsored an amendment to repeal the 2.3 percent tax on medical device manufacturers.

"Taxing the medical device industry to pay for the president's health care law will cost Hoosier jobs, increase health care costs and stifle medical innovation," said Coats. "While I continue to push for a full repeal of the health care law, I also will continue the fight to repeal this damaging tax on an industry that not only provides jobs to thousands of Hoosiers, but also enhances the lives of patients around the world."

Indiana is home to more than 300 FDA-registered medical device manufacturers, employing 20,000 Hoosiers directly and another 28,000 indirectly. These jobs pay, on average, 56 percent higher wages than the state wage rate in Indiana.

A 2011 study released by the Advanced Medical Technology Association analyzed the potential effect of the health care law's device tax on employment in the medical device industry. According to this report, an estimated 2,124 Hoosiers would lose their jobs and the tax likely will result in American manufacturers shutting down plants in the U.S. and replacing them with plants in other countries.

Source