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Capps Supports Health-Care Reform Legislation
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, on Friday announced her support of landmark health insurance reform legislation and released the following statement:
“I am thrilled we are taking the final steps to enact much-needed health insurance reform. Congress has debated this issue intensely for more than a year, and the need for reform is clear.
“Today, millions of Americans have no coverage, and everyone with coverage is at risk of losing it at any time due to unaffordable premium increases, the loss of a job, or even an untimely accident or illness. Insurance companies all too often drop people when they get sick and regularly raise premiums to unaffordable levels. Small businesses and families cannot afford skyrocketing health-care costs, which are a drag across the entire economy.
“This bill fixes those problems. It would help tens of thousands of Central Coast citizens without insurance today get coverage. Just as important, it will improve the coverage for the vast majority of my constituents who already have health insurance.
“The bill would make sure that everyone who already has coverage doesn’t lose it if they become sick, get in an accident, lose a job or want to change careers. It stops insurance companies from refusing coverage to people with so-called pre-existing conditions and charging women more just because they are women. It requires new private plans to cover certain preventive services with no co-pays and makes those services exempt from deductibles. It prohibits insurance companies from placing lifetime limits on coverage and from imposing annual limits. It allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26. And it closes the unfair ‘doughnut hole’ in drug coverage, which affects some 9,000 seniors in the 23rd Congressional District.
“In addition, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill will actually reduce the federal deficit by more than $130 billion over the next 10 years and $1.2 trillion over the following 10 years, making it the largest deficit-reduction measure in a generation.
“Earlier this year, the Democratic-led Congress reinstated tough ‘pay-go’ budget rules the Republican-led Congress had allowed to lapse in 2003, and this bill is a reflection of our determination to bring our federal books back into balance as they were prior to the Bush administration.
“We all know the status quo in health care is unsustainable. It is bankrupting our country and too many families across the country. This bill puts in place common-sense reforms to ensure all Americans will always have access to quality, affordable health care while bringing down our deficit.”
The House is expected to vote on the legislation this weekend.
— Randolph Harrison is chief of staff for Rep. Lois Capps.
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» on 03.19.10 @ 08:47 PM
DOCTORS speak about health “reform:”
March 18, 2010 - by Paul Hsieh - ObamaCare vs. the Hippocratic Oath
Do we really want a system that would fatally compromise doctors’ ability to treat their patients according to their best judgment and ability?
President Obama’s health care “reform” plan has been criticized for being economically unsustainable, politically unpopular, and constitutionally suspect. But for many practicing physicians like myself, his plan contains an even greater but seldom-discussed flaw that overshadows those others. ObamaCare would fatally compromise doctors’ ability to uphold their Hippocratic Oath to treat their patients according to their best judgment and ability.
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obamacare-vs-the-hippocratic-oath/
ASK YOUR DOCTORS WHAT THEY THINK OF THIS REFORM BILL. ONCE YOU HEAR WHAT THEY HAVE TO SAY GET ON THE PHONE BURN DOWN THE BARN CONTACT YOUR REPRESENATIVES AND GET THIS DANGEROUS IDIOCY STOPPED!
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» on 03.20.10 @ 09:43 AM
Well of course, she is a straight down the line Democrat. To me this whole health care bill is a tragedy not just for the country but for the Democratic Party. It is why I became an Independent. This bill contains new taxes, hidden as they may be, and to say the bill reduces the deficit hides that fact, or attempts to. A bill cannot not do anything but raise taxes if it is going to cover 30 million more people. The question is who is going to pay. The Rich, the Dems always say. But it will be you and me, Babe; the middle class. I swear this bill is a death wish for the Democrats. They make a big deal about denial of access to those with pre-existing, but drag us into all sorts of other stuff that could have been solved in a simpler way. We see Barbara Boxer in trouble; I hope that Ms Capps gets a strong challenge this year as well. Maybe something good will come from this: casting out the Tax and Spenders come Fall.
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» on 03.20.10 @ 01:10 PM
Let’s see, recite democrat talking points verbatim, check, bash Bush, check, load of hypocrisy, check, dodge constituent’s and their questions, check, live in fantasy land where adding services for 30 million people costs less, check. You’re getting old Lois, in more ways than one. Can’t wait for November.
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» on 03.20.10 @ 03:59 PM
It is unfortunate Lois Capps and fellow democrats feel the only way to fix something is to throw more money at it. And of course it is always more of other peoples money. If it was so important to them why did they not take out of their current budget like any family or business would do?
I think everyone agrees that there is big improvements needed in healthcare. It is way to costly compared to other countries. The only bright spot I can see in this bill is the cap on insurance policies ($27K cap on family insurance) before a 40% tax kicks in. Hopefully this will but a cap on the cost of insurance. However I am sure there are lots of smart people looking for how to create a ‘doughnut hole’ around the cap.
Things like capping what insurance companies can charge, not allowing them to drop anyone, allowing out of state (and out of country) insurance competition, and tort reform would go a long way to fix the problems. Pouring more money on it just makes the real fixes harder and take longer.
Time to replace Capps she is nothing more than a Democratic song bird—she does not represent us.
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» on 03.20.10 @ 05:18 PM
Good for Lois!
She has professional training in public health and nutrition.
She lost her husband to heart disease, and her too-young daughter to cancer.
Few members of Congress understand the need for Health Reform any better.
And the CBO has pretty conclusively found that the Bill now under consideration
WILL significantly “cut”, not raise, health care costs.
Go for it, Lois, and see if you can bring that mullet-head, Bart Stupak along with
you!
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» on 03.20.10 @ 08:09 PM
I’m for health care reform but this bill doesn’t do it. Forcing people and companies to get HC or pay a fine and jail time? Pay for 6 years of taxes for 4 years of “benefits?” This bill is all sorts of wrong. It will lead to government run health care and the last thing I think most Americans want is postal service type health care plan. I will do my part to make sure Capps isn’t elected back into office.
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