12 Jul 2012

Schilling Seeks Affordable and Accessible Health Care

By Andie Pivarunas

Supports House efforts to repeal the health care reform law; wants to replace with true efforts to lower cost

Washington, DC - Congressman Bobby Schilling (IL-17) today released the following statement after voting in favor of H.R. 6079, legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act:

"The wait on the health care reform law's constitutionality is over, but the uncertainty remains for folks across the country," said Schilling. "Workers are unsure of how this law will change their current health care plans or impact their employment, and business owners are unsure of what complying with the law will cost them in time and resources. Meanwhile, health care costs continue to rise.

"My goal is to make health care affordable and accessible, and this law just doesn't do the trick. I will continue working with anyone I can to roll back this law and replace it with efforts to guarantee folks in Illinois' 17th Congressional District and throughout the country have access to health care that's high quality, patient-centered, convenient, and affordable."

Believing it is important for Members of Congress to lead by example, Schilling rejected the Congressional health care plan and brought his own health care plan to Washington. As the father of 10, he knows well the need to reduce the cost of health care and improve its accessibility.

Prior to the Supreme Court releasing its decision on the law's future, Schilling released a detailed plan for true health care reform that can be found here on his website. He is also seeking input on his continuing efforts to improve health care.

Schilling spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives in support of H.R. 6079, which passed the House today in a bipartisan vote of 244-185. Text of his remarks as prepared for delivery can be found below, and video can be found here.

Mr. Speaker, like many in Illinois' 17th District, I'm disappointed that the Supreme Court decided to uphold the President's health care reform law.

The court ruled what we all knew from the beginning but the president wouldn't acknowledge -- the law's "individual mandate" is really as a tax on the American people and businesses that create jobs.

Under this law, health care costs remain too high.

Government bureaucrats remain between patients and their doctors.

Too many Americans remain unemployed, with national unemployment hovering above 8 percent for the last 41 straight months.

The law's medical device tax will continue to raise health care costs and limit the ability of facilities like Cook Medical in Canton, Illinois to expand and grow jobs.

And the law's employer mandate will continue to force employers to choose between paying a penalty, increasing the number of employees eligible for health care coverage, replacing full time staff with part-time employees, or laying folks off.

Mr. Speaker, now is not the time to raise taxes on working class families or employers.

We need to repeal this law and get to work on bipartisan health care reform that lowers costs and makes health care more convenient and more affordable.

I'm new to Congress, but I have a plan to address rising health care costs while ensuring those who need it have access to coverage. I urge men and women from across America to visit schilling.house.gov to take a look.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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To send Congressman Schilling an e-mail, click here

Health, Medicine & Nutrition

Author

Rick Martin

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