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from the Republican National Committee

House Will Vote Today On Amendment From Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) That Would Prevent Federal Funding Of Abortion In Democrats’ Health Care Experiment. “House Democratic leaders agreed Friday night to settle an impasse over abortion by letting the entire House vote on a proposed solution … Under the agreement, anti-abortion Democrats will be permitted to offer an amendment on the House floor to the health-care overhaul bill. The amendment would prohibit a new government-run insurance plan created by the health-care bill from offering to cover abortion services … It would also block people who received federal subsidies for the purchase of health insurance from buying policies that offered coverage for abortions. (Lori Montgomery, “Democrats To Resolve Abortion Impasse On House Floor,” The Washington Post, 11/7/09)

But House Democrat Leaders Provide No Guarantee That Restriction On Abortion Funding Will Appear In Final Bill. REP. JOHN BOEHNER: “I want to ask the Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Waxman, whether he can guarantee me that if the House does vote in fact for Mr. Stupak’s amendment, the gentlemen will guarantee me that when this bill comes back from conference that that language will remain in the bill.” … REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D-CA): “No guarantee can be made by me or any other member at this time.” (Rep. John Boehner and Rep. Henry Waxman, Floor Debate On H.R. 3962, 11/7/09)

And Democrats’ Bill Does Not Include Strong Conscience Protection For Doctors Who Don’t Want To Perform Abortions. “While Section 259 of the bill maintains essential nondiscrimination protections for providers who decline involvement in abortion, the legislation also requires each region of the insurance exchange to include at least one health plan with unlimited abortion, contrary to the policy of all other federal health programs; and conscience protection on issues beyond abortion have yet to be included in this bill.” (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Bishops To House: Keep Abortion Funding Out Of Health Care Reform, Make Health Care Available To Vulnerable,” Press Release, 11/6/09)
 
Democrats’ Bill Still Includes Government Involvement In End-Of-Life Care Consultations.“SEC. 1233. VOLUNTARY ADVANCE CARE PLANNING CONSULTATION. … An individual may receive the voluntary advance care planning care planning consultation provided for under this subsection no more than once every 5 years unless there is a significant change in the health or health related condition of the individual. ‘‘(4) For purposes of this section, the term ‘order regarding life sustaining treatment’ means, with respect to an individual, an actionable medical order relating to the treatment of that individual that effectively communicates the individual’s preferences regarding life sustaining treatment, is signed and dated by a practitioner, and is in a form that permits it to be followed by health care professionals across the continuum of care.’’ (H.R. 3962, “Affordable Health Care for America Act,” Introduced 10/29/09)
 
Democrats’ Bill Has Provisions For “Comparative Effectiveness Research,” Which Could Lead To Rationing Of Care. “Increases the independence of the Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission: Comptroller General appoints the commission, no longer established by the Secretary of HHS; establishes a separate independent funding stream for the Commission; ensures that the Commission is able to make reports without HHS review. Improves protections to ensure that subpopulations are appropriately accounted for in research study design and implementation and requires a researcher with expertise in racial and ethnic minority health research to be on the Comparative Effectiveness Research Commission. Clarifies that comparative effectiveness reports are not considered as mandates for payment, coverage or treatment and that no federal officer or employee will interfere with the practice of medicine” (Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Education and Labor, “ Affordable Health Care For America Act Section-by-Section Analysis,” Fact Sheet, 10/29/09)
 
DEMS’ HEALTH CARE EXPERIMENT WILL ALSO HURT FAMILIES’ POCKETBOOKS, MEDICAL CARE
 
Dems’ Bill Paid For By $730 Billion In Tax Hikes, Including Income Tax Increase On Many Small Businesses That Will Kill Jobs. “This [surtax] would hit job creators especially hard because more than six of every 10 who earn that much are small business owners, operators or investors, according to a 2007 Treasury study... America’s successful small businesses would pay higher tax rates than the Fortune 500, and fo r that matter than most companies around the world ...” (“Estimated Revenue Effects Of Possible Modifications To The Revenue Provisions Of H.R. 3962, The ‘Affordable Health Care For America Act’,” Joint Committee On Taxation Publication, 10/29/09; Editorial, “The Small Business Surtax,” The Wall Street Journal, 7/14/09)
 
Dems’ $456 Billion In Cuts To Medicare And Medicaid Would Force Doctors To Decline Seniors. “Rep. Eric Massa said tightening provider payments could lead to access problems for patients. ‘We will force doctors to decline Medicare patients,’ he said after a raucous town-hall meeting in Upstate New York. ‘If we believe these savings are there, let’s test the concept. But we can’t hinge the entire funding of this bill on these not-yet-seen savings.’“ (Congressional Budget Office, Letter To Honor Charles B. Rangel, 10/29/09; Ceci Connolly, “Seniors Remain Wary of Health-Care Reform,” The Washington Post, 8/9/09)
 
Dems’ Bill Hides “Doc Fix” Provision That Would Add Over $200 Billion To Deficit. “The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the House plan to prevent cuts to doctors’ Medicare reimbursement rates would cost $210 billion over 10 years, according to a just released analysis. The big price tag is no surprise and was the main reason House Democrats introduced the so-called ‘doc fix’ legislation separately from their $1.2 trillion reform bill -- Dems were trying to keep the cost of the reform bill as close to President Obama’s target of $900 billion as possible.” (Chris Frates, “BREAKING-CBO Releases Cost Estimate On House Doc Fix,” Politico’s “Live Pulse” Blog, 11/4/09)
 
New Mandates In Dems’ Bill “Could Have The Unintended Consequence Of Raising Health Insurance Premiums.” “Obamacare could have the unintended consequence of raising health insurance premiums and causing a decline in the number of people with insurance ...  A key feature of the House and Senate health bills would prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to anyone with preexisting conditions ... This well-intentioned feature would provide a strong incentive for someone who is healthy to drop his or her health insurance, saving the substantial premium costs ... As healthy individuals decline coverage in this way, insurance companies would come to have a sicker population. The higher cost of insuring that group would force insurers to raise their premiums.” (Martin Feldstein, Op-Ed, “Obamacare’s Nasty Surprise,” The Washington Post, 11/6/09)
 
“Public Option” In Dems’ Bill Could Mean Over 88 Million Americans Losing Current Coverage. “Under current law, there will be about 158.1 million people who are covered under an employer plan as workers, dependents or early retirees in 2011. I f the act were fully implemented in that year, about 88.1 million workers would shift from private employer insurance to the public plan.” (John Shelis, Vice President, Lewin Group, “Analysis Of The July 15 Draft Of The American Affordable Health Choices Act Of 2009,” 7/17/09)