Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Despite overwhelming opposition from concerned citizens across the country, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi teamed up to force their 2,000-plus page, $1.2 trillion, health care overhaul down the throats of the American people.

This budget-busting federal legislation will cost taxpayers $1.2 trillion over the next decade and increase taxes by nearly $570 billion. It will also punish small businesses, penalize Americans who do not purchase coverage, run doctors out of medicine, drive private insurance companies out of business, and may eventually force Texans out of their existing plans and into a government-run program rationed by bureaucrats.

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission estimates the new law will double the number of Medicaid recipients and increase the burden on Texas taxpayers by an additional $27 billion over 10 years, without reducing health care costs or improving quality of care. At the same time our state is facing a budget shortfall, this enormous unfunded federal mandate will either lead to dramatic tax increases or deep cuts in state programs such as education, transportation and public safety.

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