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Most House members in region voted for historic health bill
TweetSTAFF REPORT
WASHINGTON — Of the four members of Congress from the Mahoning and Shenango valleys — all Democrats — three voted for the health-care reform bill and one against it.
U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan, D-17th of Niles, Charlie Wilson, D-6th of St. Clairsville and Kathy Dahlkemper, D-3rd of Erie, voted for the plan.
Rep. Jason Altmire, D-4th of McCandless, voted against it.
Ryan said in a press release that plant closings, personal hardships and medical problems have caused tens of thousands of 17th District families to lose their health care.
“But now, finally, we have passed a critical milestone toward universal, affordable health care for all Americans,” he said.
“This reform should have happened thirty years ago, but I am proud to support it today. The Affordable Health Care for America Act will require legal residents of the United States to have health insurance, so they do not show up at the emergency room without insurance, resulting in taxpayers getting stuck with their medical bill,” he said.
If enacted into law, the measure would do the following in the 17th District alone, Ryan said:
Improve Employer-Base Coverage for 355,000 Residents; provide credits to help pay for coverage for up to 180,000 households; improve Medicare for 109,000 beneficiaries, including closing the prescription drug “Donut Hole” for 9,100 senior citizens; allow 14,000 small businesses to obtain affordable health care coverage and provide tax credits to help reduce health insurance costs for up to 12,300 small businesses; provide coverage for 43,000 uninsured residents; protect up to 1,700 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs; and reduce the cost of uncompensated care hospitals and health care providers by $20 million.
Wilson said he voted for the legislation because it brought stability and security to the health care system, lowered the cost of health care, and insured broader coverage, without increasing our deficit.
“After months of deliberation, with these conditions met, I proudly cast my vote for the Affordable Health Care for America Act,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee included Dahlkemper in a list of Congress members it said risks being ostracized for voting for the bill after signing a letter to Nancy Pelosi in July expressing concern about several aspects of it, including its cost. Part of her district includes a portion of Mercer County.
On her Web site, Dahlkemper said the legislation “reduces the federal deficit through effective cost-saving measures and healthy competition for insurance companies.”
She added, “This legislation also reaches an important goal I have long advocated for health care reform: it includes measures to help prevent chronic disease and promote healthy living. The Affordable Health Care for America Act includes robust prevention and wellness provisions to improve the actual health of Americans,” she said.
Altmire also signed the letter in July but followed through with a no vote on the health care bill. He represents Lawrence County.
“As I said following the initial committee vote in July, I voted against the House’s health care reform bill in the Education and Labor Committee because it failed to effectively rein in rising health care costs; it was punitive toward small businesses; and it paid for reform by raising taxes, rather than by squeezing the inefficiencies out of and modernizing our health care system.
“After months of negotiation, I believe that the bill we voted on today contained some improvements in each of these three areas, although these improvements were not sufficient for me to be able to vote for the bill. In particular, I remain concerned that the House’s health care reform bill still fails to make our health care system more cost-efficient. Until we rein in skyrocketing health care costs, we will simply be perpetuating an inefficient system that is unsustainable over time.”
Altmire said he believes America does need “common-sense health care reform” and pledged to work to create a bill that will reduce health care costs for American families and small businesses and build a payment structure that better incentivizes efficiency.
Comments
Unlike Tim Ryan and Charlie Wilson , Boccieri voted without the Pelosi influence and voted what his constituents wanted. When redistricting occurs Boccieri will win hands down. Tim Ryan has always been on the public payroll. He never had to make a payroll or pay for health care for his employees. Tim just doesn't get it.
Do you think most union members would accept a two-thousand page contract from management? I think most members would realize two-thousand pages can easily hide some awful rip-offs, bad deals, and wrong ways. Should Congresspersons Ryan, Dahlkemper, Wilson now be called Congresspersons Rip-off Ryan, Bad-deal Dahlkemper, and Wrong-way Wilson for voting that two-thousand page monstrosity?
It was great to see Ryan and Wilson voting to make America a better place to live. I was sorry to see Boccieri sell out to the selfish Republicans. Hopefully he will vote for it when the final bill is adopted so history can list him as on the side of normal Americans.
If you had not read the bill, you need to. You also need to wake up and look around at the Democratic regions that are all sinking further and further into poverty. The "rich" which include our congress and senate keep getting richer off our backs. The big companies that already pay for benefits can continue right along. This bill will hurt small companies the most.
Companies that employ 10 or more and have a payroll of $500,000 or more are going to be affected by this monster of a bill that is loading with restrictions and will be a paperwork nightmare for more companies.
As a small business person who is already saddled with too much government paperwork to actually be productive as a business, this will add to my burden. Finanacially, I will not be able to compete with the fines and/or requirements in this. My family has already taken pay cuts in this economy and drained our savings to keep going. This will be the nail in the coffin for many small businesses.
In addition, please be aware that if you don't want insurance, you will be forced to get it - however, your congressman is not forced to be on this plan.
The bill puts restrictions on your doctor. Faced with those restrictions, certain diagnoses will not be able to find doctors to treat them because doctors will not want to treat a patient and not get paid. If you have congestive heart failure, diabetes, or a host of other problems, doctors will see you as too big of a risk. Would you see a patient if you knew you would not be paid?
There are provisions for student loan forgiveness for veterinarians. Was your student loan just written off?
On Nov. 2, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the plans will likely cost. An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. Individuals and families earning less than these amounts will be eligible for subsidies paid directly to their insurer.
Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars. Illegal immigrants are exempt from this requirement.
This bill takes from the not so rich ($44,000 is not rich in my book) and gives to the people who don't work/or don't want to work. It doesn't give you incentive to work hard and live the American dream - the Dream where anyone can be a success.
IT IS TIME TO WAKE UP AND REALIZE THAT WE ARE BEING CHANGED TO A COUNTRY THAT IS NOT FREE. Tim Ryan, speaking on the floor, redefined freedom. He said "In 2009, we need to re-define freedom. And freedom in America in 2009 means being healthy and having access to a health care system that isn't just for the elite, but it's for everybody". Tell that to a veteran that gave their life fighting for freedom from countries that force people to do things their way.
This is a sad day for America and unless the sheeple wake up and quit voting for the "elite" who think they can control every aspect of your life, we will soon look like a communist nation.
FREEDOM to me means living in a land where there is exemption from external control, interference, regulation. We are not free anymore!
Please tell me Ohio Senators are smarter.
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich is on the correct side of the issue... he voted no.
...quote... " the bill was a sell out to the insurance companies."
Congressman Ryan, let me start by saying that I do indeed pay an outrageous premium for my healthcare, which will become even more outrageous in January. I do not have a great job, nor a high-paying one. We do not own our home or drive a fancy car. We live a simple life and sacrifice on the "niceties" so that I may put food on the table and have the necessary medical care.
Let me seemingly digress by saying that my father served in the Army in WWII and the Korean "war"; I served in the Navy during the Vietnam "war"; my sister served in the Army and her husband in the Marines; my wife's father was in the Army, her grandfather in the Navy; our uncles were in the Army and Air Force.
What does that have to do with this? I feel comfortable saying that none of us, whether in the 1940's or in 2009 would agree that freedom means "being healthy". I did NOT serve my country so that illegal aliens could be healthy. I did NOT serve my country so that people too lazy to work could be healthy. I did NOT serve my country so that girls with no morals could get free abortions. I did NOT serve my country so that the government could tell me, my wife, or my parents what kind of medical treatment we would be allowed to receive. I did NOT serve my country so that the next generation could face an outrageous national debt and/or hyperinflation. I DID serve my country to protect the freedom that our Founding Fathers and their generation fought and died for--the freedom to get a job and provide for our families as best we could, and not as the government dictated we must.
All of the people I listed above took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC. Didn't you also take such an oath? Can you tell me where in the Constitution it allows you (the Congress) to effectively nationalize healthcare? Have you ever really read the Constitution that you are "defending"? Did you read the bill you just voted for? How many of its 2000 pages?
Congressman Ryan, I know that you are in a well-protected district with many people on government handouts and many others more worried about American Idol than the American REPUBLIC. Nevertheless, I am writing this so that you will know that there are a few of us that took the red pill and not the blue one. Even more importantly, many of them are in the next generation. I pray that there will be enough of them that awaken quickly enough to save the REPUBLIC. Because if the REPUBLIC is not saved...well, I guess the DC Zoo (the one with the four-legged animals, not the ones at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue) showed us how a democracy really works.