Twenty pounds of paper, 1,990 pages in H.R. 3962 health reform bill ? that’s what the U.S. House of Representatives approved Saturday night.
Clarkston area residents can read them all at the Independence Township Library, courtesy of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers.
“When I saw it, I was like, are you kidding,” said Keegan Sulecki, head of teen services, examining the foot-high stack of papers. “It’s really enormous.”
Rogers, a Republican whose Eighth District includes the Clarkston area, wants constituents to check out what Democrats have in mind for health care reform.
“Today, too many patients cannot get care or are forced to go uninsured because costs are too high,” Rogers said. “Speaker Pelosi’s health reform legislation does not fix these problems – in fact, it makes them worse.”
According to his analysis, the proposal increases health costs by $750 billion over the next 10 years because it creates 111 new government boards, agencies, commissions and programs, as well as new mandates on small employers and middle-class families alike. It dramatically expands government in American health care, cuts Medicare services by $500 billion, raises taxes on small businesses and middle-class families by more than $400 billion, and adds billions to the nation’s 1.4 trillion deficit over the long term. It also forces all private health insurance plans to comply with new federal mandates and creates a powerful, unelected federal “health czar” in Washington, D.C. to micro-manage health coverage for all Americans.
“I believe there are much better solutions that will lower costs, expand access and improve care while preserving coverage for the 85 percent of Americans who have earned health insurance,” he said.
According to the Progressive, Liberal group Americans United for Change, the Affordable Health Care Act for America provides sweeping health insurance reform legislation for 96 percent of the American people, makes coverage more affordable for all Americans, strengthens Medicare, and ends health insurance industry practices of denying coverage based on ‘pre-existing conditions? and rescinding policies when Americans get sick.
The bill is available for viewing at the library, 6495 Clarkston Road.
“It’s here if anyone wants to take a look at it,” Sulecki said. “We’re looking for some binders to make it easier to read.”
For library information, call 248-625-2212.