FORT WORTH, TX – Today, State Senator Konni Burton sent an open letter to her federal Congressman, Kenny Marchant, and both United States Senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, urging them to support full repeal of Obamacare.
The following was sent to each of their offices:
“As Congress continues to debate healthcare reform, I write to urge you to keep your promise to Texans and fully repeal this catastrophic law. As a state lawmaker, I have been very concerned with the overall substance and direction of the House bill. The bill simply does not repeal Obamacare—it leaves large portions of the costly Medicaid expansion intact, replaces Obamacare’s subsidy scheme with a new federal entitlement in the form of a refundable tax credit, and maintains almost the entirety of Obamacare’s regulatory architecture. This is not repealing Obamacare: this is repairing Obamacare, and it is not the message the people of Texas have so loudly tried to send Washington.
While some of the Medicaid reforms being discussed have merit, these reforms ring hollow so long as the expansion to the able-bodied remains in place. The current approach continues the fiscal inequity among the states which expanded Medicaid and those, like Texas, who refused to subject their citizens to the high costs and poor quality of the program.
Furthermore, the failure to repeal Obamacare’s insurance regulations and mandates will have disastrous consequences for Texans. These mandates are the very drivers of skyrocketing premiums and deductibles and yet the bill currently being debated in Congress would not only fail to repeal them, but also further increase premiums. The overall cost and quality of care is what Texans are most concerned about.
A new Washington-centered, central planning scheme is not what voters have been clamoring for all these years. States should be free to regulate their insurance markets without federal intervention and coercive mandates. The failed one-size-fits-all approach that the current bill continues is precisely the approach taken by Obamacare. The result has been higher costs, lower quality of care, and fewer and more expensive options for patients and providers.
The current House plan also includes a new bailout fund for insurers to the tune of $100 billion. This kind of flagrant cronyism is disheartening. All of this comes at the expense of Texas patients and taxpayers desperately seeking relief from soaring prices and diminishing options for care.
Texans have been unequivocal in their demand for full repeal. The success or failure of this Congress will be measured largely on the fulfillment of this promise. Now is not the time for timidity, but rather for conviction. Keep your promise and fully repeal Obamacare. And then respect the states and the people by bringing an end to Washington’s control over the supply and demand of healthcare.
We should be empowering patients, reducing costs, and improving quality of care through market-oriented reforms. Anything less than that is not only a missed opportunity, but also a broken promise to those who elected Congress to finally get the job done.”
