My Letter to Congress: H.R.3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

I am writing as your constituent in the 17th Congressional district of Texas. I am writing as your constituent in the 17th Congressional district of Texas. I oppose H.R.3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability.

Sincerely,
Juliana Fenn

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Very truly yours,


Bill Flores
Member of Congress

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Dear Friend:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the health care reform law that was enacted in March 2010. I welcome your thoughts and comments.

I voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because I believe that it authorizes a government takeover of our private health care system, will do nothing to restrain the runaway growth of health care costs, and will increase federal spending and deficits by trillions of dollars in coming years. Although not a single Republican Senator voted for bill, the measure was approved and signed into law by President Barack Obama in March 2010.

Buried in the 2,000 pages of legislation are scores of provisions that will restructure how we can obtain health care services. From government-mandated health insurance to new regulations on doctor-patient relationships, the new law will replace our current system with government control.

During Senate consideration of the legislation, debate and opportunities for amendments were deliberately limited. I offered an amendment to allow states and American taxpayers the opportunity to opt out of the bill?s key provisions, including the higher taxes, unfunded mandates, and penalties. I authored another amendment that would have delayed new taxes imposed by the legislation. Although these and other attempts to delay or derail the legislation failed, twenty-seven states subsequently filed lawsuits in federal court that challenged the constitutionality of the law and its individual health insurance mandate (i.e., stipulations that they must buy government-dictated health insurance, or pay a penalty to the Internal Revenue Service). Two federal district court judges have since ruled that part or all of the new law is unconstitutional. These cases are expected to be appealed and decided by the U.S. Supreme Court sometime next year.

In the meantime, the Obama Administration is accelerating implementation of the new law, and forcing states to incur millions of dollars in costs that may be wasted, if the law is found to be unconstitutional. For this reason, I have introduced the Save Our States (SOS) Act, which would suspend implementation of the health care reform law until the Supreme Court renders its final decision. I hope to force a vote on my bill soon, before states and businesses are required to spend additional millions on a new law that many legal scholars believe is unconstitutional.

In 2011, a provision in health reform took effect; it states that Health Savings Accounts or Flexible Spending Accounts (privately funded, tax-exempt accounts used by millions of working families for out-of-pocket health care costs) could no longer be used to buy over-the-counter medications ? unless a doctor writes a prescription. In response, I introduced S. 312, the Patients? Freedom to Choose Act, to overturn this restriction and also repeal the new $2,500 federal cap on private contributions to Flexible Spending Accounts.

Also troubling are the extraordinary steps the Obama Administration has taken to exempt scores of favored corporations and labor union health plans from the new law. It's clear that the Administration intends to concentrate the costs and consequences on Medicare recipients, individuals and families who currently buy their health care coverage, and small employers that offer job-based insurance benefits.

As then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in 2010, "We have to pass the health care bill so that you can find out what is in it." Americans are finding out more every day, and they like it less and less. There are better health care solutions that will actually lower costs, expand access to quality care, and increase patients? choices. The right approach would keep patients at the center of our health care system, reduce the costs of overbearing government regulations, eliminate lawsuit abuse, and allow small businesses to pool their insurance purchasing power. It would bolster family doctors and community hospitals, and support a competitive health care system that encourages individuals to make health care choices according to their needs and wants ? not government rules.

With these objectives in mind, I was the lead cosponsor of the Health Care Freedom Act of 2009 (S. 1324), authored by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC). This bill would provide tax credits for individuals who purchase their own insurance so that the coverage they buy is portable. It would implement nationwide medical malpractice reform. It would create a web portal for easy comparisons of competing insurance plans and allow individuals to purchase insurance across state lines. It would also give flexibility to states to set their own health insurance rules. Unfortunately, the Senate majority has not allowed a vote to be taken on these commonsense reforms.

You are among thousands of Texans who have written to express their views on this crucial topic. Please be assured I will continue to do all I can to reverse and overturn the new law, and replace it with a comprehensive, sensible plan to contain costs and improve health care quality, while emphasizing the strengths of our system.

I appreciate hearing from you, and I hope you will not hesitate to contact me on any issue that is important to you.

Sincerely,
Kay Bailey Hutchison
United States Senator

284 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5922 (tel)
202-224-0776 (fax)
http://hutchison.senate.gov

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If you would like more information about issues pending before the Senate, please visit the Senator's website at http://hutchison.senate.gov .? You will find articles, floor statements, press releases, and weekly columns on current events.

Thank you.

February 16, 2012







Dear Ms. Fenn,



Thank you for contacting me regarding your support for the repeal of
Obamacare. I always appreciate hearing from those that I represent in
Congress.



On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act (PPACA), into law. Even before it was signed into
law, Americans were already opposed to this government subsidization
and takeover of our health care system. And even today, most Americans,
including the majority of my constituents, are still opposed to it and
support its repeal.



You may be pleased to know that I agree that Obamacare must be fully
repealed. Changes and reforms to our health care system should be based
on our free market system and should not insert the federal government
between people and their doctors or increase the cost of health care.
Obamacare must be repealed for numerous reasons, but let me share with
you some of the more egregious and blatant attacks on our liberty, our
economy and our future generations contained within it.



Obamacare requires all Americans to obtain insurance. Nearly four
million uninsured Americans will have to pay a penalty averaging $1,000
a person in 2016 for not obtaining health insurance. Twenty-six states
around the country, including Texas, have filed suit against the
federal government on the basis of this mandate being unconstitutional.
Recently, courts in both Virginia and Florida found the individual
mandate to be unconstitutional.



Obamacare includes more than $500 billion in tax and fee increases.
Even taxpayers earning less than $200,000 a year will pay close to $3.9
billion more in taxes. It also contains $500 billion in cuts to
Medicare and $100 billion in cuts to the Medicare Advantage program. As
a result of these cuts, 2.7 million fewer American seniors could be
enrolled in Medicare Advantage preventing them from seeing their
current doctors.



Instead of improving and reforming Medicare and slashing the deficit,
Obamacare includes trillions of dollars in new entitlement spending for
only a small percentage of Americans at a time when we cannot even
fully pay for the entitlements we already have. According to the chief
Medicare actuary Richard S. Foster, overall national health
expenditures will increase by a total of $311 billion over the next
decade under this law. It also includes a new system of government-run
exchanges and insurance regulations which could result in as many as
ten million Americans losing their current employer-sponsored coverage.
Also, on February 10, 2011, in testimony before the House Budget
Committee, on which I serve, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Director
Douglas Elmendorf said that Obamacare will reduce employment by 800,000
jobs by 2021.



I also oppose Obamacare because it allows for the federal funding of
abortion services. Abortion services should not receive or be
subsidized by federal funding of any kind.



For these reasons, I became a cosponsor of H.R 2, the Repealing the
Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. H.R 2 would fully repeal Obamacare
in its entirety and would instruct the House Committees to begin
working on finding common sense, patient centered replacement
legislation. On January 19, 2011, H.R. 2 passed the House of
Representatives by a vote of 245-189 with my support. I strongly
believe that this is the first step toward truly and responsibly
reforming our health care system. H.R. 2 will now proceed to the Senate
for consideration.



Also, during consideration of H.R 1, the Full-Year Continuing
Appropriations Act of 2011, in February of this year, the House passed
nine substantial amendments to H.R 1 that would severely handicap the
funding and implementation of Obamacare. I voted for eight of the nine
amendments with one passing by voice vote.



I am also a cosponsor of H.R 4, the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer
Protection and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011.
H.R 4 would repeal the job-killing form 1099 reporting requirements
that were added in Obamacare strictly as a way to help finance it. You
may be pleased to know that H.R 4 passed the House by a vote of 314-112
with my support on March 3, 2011. H.R 4 has now been sent to the
President's desk for him to sign it into law.



I have also cosponsored several other bills to further dismantle
Obamacare. I am a cosponsor of H.R 21, the Reclaiming Individual
Liberty Act. H.R 21 would reaffirm our Nation's constitutional
principles by repealing the burdensome and unconstitutional individual
mandate provision in Obamacare. I am also a cosponsor of H.R 127 which
would defund Obamacare, H.R 154, the Defund the Individual Mandate Act
and H.R 782, the State Health Care Flexibility Act of 2011, which would
enable states to opt out of certain provisions of Obamacare.



You may also be pleased to know that Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and my
fellow Republican House Budget Committee colleagues and I recently
unveiled our fiscal year 2012 budget plan. Included in its debt- and
deficit-reducing, entitlement reforming provisions is the full repeal
and defunding of Obamacare. Furthermore, House Republicans have been
working on legislation - including four bills that have already passed
the House with my support - to eliminate the "slush" funds that
comprise the $105 billion of mandatory spending found in Obamacare.



In this important time in American history, I will continue to vote for
and support not only initiatives to fully repeal Obamacare, but also
ones to defund and dismantle it piece by piece. Please be assured that
I will continue to monitor these issues and will also continue to
support common sense solutions to improve our health care system and
repair the negative impact of Obamacare.



Thank you for entrusting me to represent you in the United States
Congress. If you would like more information on this or any other
issue, please visit my website at http://flores.house.gov. You can also
follow me on Twitter: @RepBillFlores and Facebook:
www.facebook.com/RepBillFlores. Please do not hesitate to contact me
again should you have further concerns on federal legislation or
programs.




Very truly yours,

Bill Flores
Member of Congress