On January 19, 2011, the House voted to repeal President Obama’s health care legislation. I asked my constituents how Obamacare would impact them. I received hundreds of responses. Read what they are saying about the bill below:
“The new and lower Healthcare Flex Spending Account caps will cost my family significantly as my wife, son and myself have multiple health conditions that require many and varied medications and medical appliances. With the lower cap, I will have to spend more after tax dollars for the necessary medicines. We use the maximum allowance each year by September as it is now. The undue burden to have a doctor's note to purchase over the counter medicine is ridiculous, and costs me an extra visit for each of us to get the note. I am employed by a Fortune 500 company in DFW so I have lots of options for healthcare providers. But several of them do not accept Medicare or Medicaid, so what happens to us when I retire or go out on medical disability?”
“My mother is on Medicare, and I can see the problems that are already beginning to happen. Her diabetic supplies can only be bought from companies on a list, and they charge more. She needs more services than she is allowed to have.”
“If I'm forced to pay for employee health insurance, we'll let employees go and work ourselves more. As a small retailer we can't afford it.”
“It will raise our rates, our taxes, and give us fewer choices for healthcare. We own our own business and pay for our health insurance out of our own pocket, and now we will be closer to not being able to afford to stay in business for ourselves.”
“It has already impacted my company with a 19% increase in monthly cost for my employees and the company. The employees cost was much more since I decided to pay only 50% of their premium vs. the 75% we have paid in the past.”
“It has already affected us. Our premiums have doubled and our drugs are more expensive. I'm paying $40 for medicine I paid $10 for last year.”
“It has raised our health care costs this year $2500. I now have a high deductible health plan with less coverage but higher costs. What happened to the Obama campaign rhetoric about lowering costs?”
“It will cause my husband to cancel health care coverage for his employees and pay the government penalty which is less than the cost of their insurance. It will increase the cost of health care, add multiples layers of bureaucracy and regulation, and cause rationing of care at a level not even imaginable to most US citizens. I work in health care and see the rationing of care already in evidence with that government run program. There has never been a government program that was more effective or cost efficient than what the private sector can offer. We MUST repeal and/or not fund anything that is not repealed. It is time to severely DECREASE the governmental regulation and control of our everyday lives. Please de-fund the EPA and cut their power to legislate as the next order of business.”
“I am an RN and well aware of all of the severe problems with government controlled health care. Elective surgery will take months; people will wait hours or more to get in to see a doctor. Care and procedures will be delayed and not as good. A company for which I worked at head quarters in Canada. The taxes will go so high it will take everything anyone makes to pay taxes. Doctors will not be as dedicated. The good doctors in Canada are coming over here to practice. All the top surgeons and doctors I know are extremely against it. Some say they will not practice here if that happens. It is scary. The procedures now for government health care, i.e. Medicaid are very controlled in some cases and abused in other cases. I have voted for everyone and everything to prevent the government health care from going into effect. I worked hard to have my retirement benefits and I want to keep them. I have a feeling that some of the people we elected are not going to vote to repeal this law as it has been too quiet since the election, and they are facing how to pay the huge debts from the stimulus bills. Thank you for asking for my opinion. That is freedom.”
“As a physician it will force me into retirement!”
“I am a mother of 4. I have 2 sons with ADHD and a daughter that needs her tonsils out. This year our deductibles took a big jump. I had to put off getting my son's medications and postpone my daughter’s tonsillectomy. I see cost of health care for even rather healthy children getting more and more costly and more and more limitations on what services can be provided for my family. If the changes from ObamaCare continue, I face not affording help for my sons with ADHD.”
“We will be required by law to purchase health insurance that we have never been able to afford before. It will create financial hardship to provide a service we do not need - we are healthy proactive, money-conscience, citizens who take preventative measures to preserve our health. It has already begun to affect our friends - hospitals are laying off nurses, etc. We also believe it will provide poor care, long waits, and inequitable treatment at high prices - we have friends from other countries and we've heard the horror stories. Government run healthcare is NOT a solution - it's a bigger problem. Thanks!”
“My husband's company does not provide insurance. They have announced they will have to lay off employees to avoid paying the exorbitant fines. Due to the economy I have lost my job and my husband's income is down 30%. Do we really need a government giveaway program that causes people to lose their jobs?”
“Kay, I have a manufacturing company in Fort Worth. I have already made plans to reduce my work force to 50 people in order to avoid paying the fines. I currently have 70 employees, so we will have to let 20 go.”
“Most of my working career I have had employer supplemented insurance that allowed me choices based on how much I wanted to spend. There has been basic coverage and options that were deducted from wages at what level I wanted to contribute. These options would go away as the cost for meeting the new requirements (employer) skyrocket and coverage is dropped or pushed down to me. Also I have options because there are companies in the health industry that can make a profit and that profit motivates them to either be better or find cures/options that don't exist today. Research & Development (R&D) is very important, but people won't take a chance investing in R&D if they don't get a desired ROR on their money. This could stifle cure research.”