[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5424 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5424

To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health 
  Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and enact the Common 
            Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 27, 2010

   Mr. Herger (for himself, Mr. Boehner, Mr. Cantor, Mr. Pence, Mrs. 
McMorris Rodgers, Mr. Sessions, Mr. McCarthy of California, Mr. Blunt, 
Mr. Camp, Mr. Barton of Texas, Mr. Kline of Minnesota, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. 
Price of Georgia, Mr. Brady of Texas, Mr. Linder, Mr. Tiberi, Mr. Davis 
 of Kentucky, Mr. Reichert, Mr. Boustany, Mr. Heller, and Mr. Roskam) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
       Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on 
  Appropriations, Ways and Means, Education and Labor, the Judiciary, 
Natural Resources, House Administration, and Rules, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health 
  Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and enact the Common 
            Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Reform Americans Can Afford Act of 
2010''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (referred 
        to in this section as the ``CBO'') predicts that health 
        insurance premiums will increase by $2,100 for millions of 
        families by 2016 as a result of the Democrats' health overhaul.
            (2) The Obama Administration's own actuaries at the Centers 
        for Medicare & Medicaid Services (referred to in this section 
        as the ``CMS'') predict that, ``[N]ational health expenditures 
        under the health reform act would increase by a total of 
        $311,000,000,000 (0.9 percent) during calendar years 2010-
        2019'' as a result of the Democrats' health overhaul.
            (3) The CMS actuaries predict that 14,000,000 Americans 
        would lose their employer-sponsored insurance as a result of 
        the Democrats' health overhaul.
            (4) The Democrats' health overhaul penalizes Americans who 
        save money to pay for their health care and threatens to reduce 
        the value of the health benefits of 43,000,000 Americans with 
        Flexible Spending Arrangements and Health Savings Accounts.
            (5) CBO estimates the Democrats' health overhaul slashes 
        Medicare by more than one-half trillion dollars in order to 
        fund a new Government entitlement program.
            (6) The Medicare actuaries found these Medicare cuts to be 
        so drastic that they caution, ``providers for whom Medicare 
        constitutes a substantive portion of their business could find 
        it difficult to remain profitable and, absent legislative 
        intervention, might end their participation in the program 
        (possibly jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries)''.
            (7) The CMS actuaries predict 7,000,000 Medicare 
        beneficiaries will no longer be enrolled in a Medicare 
        Advantage plan and millions of seniors who are currently 
        enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan will see their benefits 
        slashed and out-of-pocket costs increase.
            (8) According to the Joint Committee on Taxation and the 
        CBO, the Democrats' health law contains a total of 
        $569,200,000,000 in tax increases, including a dozen separate 
        provisions that break President Obama's pledge to avoid tax 
        increases on middle-class Americans earning less than $200,000 
        per year and families earning less than $250,000 per year.
            (9) The national unemployment rate remains near 10 percent.
            (10) CBO estimates that the Democrats' health overhaul will 
        raise taxes on employers who fail to provide Government-
        approved health insurance to their employees by 
        $52,000,000,000.
            (11) CBO said that ``employees largely bear the cost of . . 
        . [employer mandate] fees in the form of lower wages''.
            (12) The costs incurred by businesses who avoid the tax by 
        complying with the employer mandate may also be felt by 
        potential workers (who will have fewer employment opportunities 
        as businesses respond to the mandate by reducing additional 
        hiring) and by consumers (who may have to pay more for goods 
        and services to offset the higher costs imposed on businesses 
        by the mandate).
            (13) The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents more 
        than 3,000,000 businesses and organizations, said the 
        Democrats' health overhaul, ``will not increase coverage-rather 
        it will lead to out-sourcing, off-shoring, hiring of 
        independent contractors, spinning-off small new companies, 
        reducing workforces, and reducing wages''.
            (14) The National Federation of Independent Business, which 
        represents 350,000 small businesses, said through mandates, 
        ``employees ultimately bear the cost of their health insurance 
        through lower employment, depressed wages, depressed 
        productivity, and loss of economic opportunities''.
            (15) CBO found that 3,900,000 Americans would pay 
        $17,000,000,000 in taxes for not purchasing Government-approved 
        health insurance and that nearly half of these taxes would be 
        paid by families earning less than 300 percent of the Federal 
        poverty level.
            (16) The Internal Revenue Service may have to hire as many 
        as 16,500 additional agents, auditors, and other workers to 
        enforce all the new taxes and penalties in the Democrats' 
        health overhaul, dangerously expanding the Government's reach 
        into the lives of virtually every American.
            (17) The CMS actuaries predict the nearly $110,000,000,000 
        in new health care industry taxes in the Democrats' health 
        overhaul will be passed onto consumers in the form of higher 
        premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
            (18) The subsidies for individuals and families (who earn 
        less than 400 percent of the Federal poverty level) in the 
        Democrats' health overhaul are structured in a way that will 
        financially punish married couples. For example, a woman 
        earning $32,000 in 2016 who gets married to a man earning the 
        same amount will pay an average marriage penalty of $9,640 
        versus what they would have paid for health coverage had they 
        not married.
            (19) The rapid phase-out of the premium tax credits, when 
        combined with existing income and payroll tax rates, create 
        effective marginal tax rates exceeding 100 percent in certain 
        cases, thus destroying any incentive to work harder and earn 
        more income.
            (20) The so-called ``Patient-Centered Outcomes Research 
        Institute'' paves the way for Government-sanctioned rationing 
        of life-saving treatments by allowing the coverage of health 
        care treatments and services to be based on how much those 
        treatments and services cost.
            (21) The CMS actuaries predict the program to help cover 
        the sickest Americans will be so inadequately funded that 
        premiums will have to increase ``substantially'' to maintain 
        solvency.
            (22) The CMS actuaries estimate 18,000,000 Americans will 
        be dumped into Medicaid, a program in which they are likely to 
        have a difficult time finding a doctor to treat them, as a 
        result of the Democrats' health overhaul.
            (23) The Medicaid expansion in the Democrats' health 
        overhaul will force States to spend an additional 
        $20,000,000,000 on their Medicaid programs at time where the 
        vast majority of States are facing a budget crisis.
            (24) The 2010 budget deficit currently stands at 
        $1,400,000,000,000 and the national debt totals 
        $12,000,000,000,000.
            (25) The CMS actuaries exposed the Democrats' budget 
        gimmicks, saying a new Government-run long-term care program 
        that Democrats have touted as saving $72,000,000,000 over the 
        next ten years will ``face a significant risk of failure'' and 
        also that ``the improved [Medicare] financing cannot be 
        simultaneously used to finance other Federal outlays (such as 
        the coverage expansions) and to extend the trust fund''.
            (26) CBO estimates the House Republican health reform bill 
        would reduce premiums across the board by up to $1,050 
        annually.
            (27) The House Republican health reform bill would not cut 
        Medicare or increase taxes.
            (28) CBO estimates the Republican health reform bill would 
        reduce the Federal deficit by $68,000,000,000 over the next 10 
        years.
            (29) As of introduction of this bill, 21 State attorneys 
        general are suing the Federal Government, challenging the 
        constitutionality of the Democrats' new health care law.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT AND 
              THE HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2010.

    (a) Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.--Effective as of 
the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, such 
Act is repealed, and the provisions of law amended or repealed by such 
Act are restored or revived as if such Act had not been enacted.
    (b) Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.--
Effective as of the enactment of the Health Care and Education 
Reconciliation Act of 2010, such Act is repealed, and the provisions of 
law amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived as if such 
Act had not been enacted.

SEC. 4. ENACTMENT OF THE COMMON SENSE HEALTH CARE REFORM AND 
              AFFORDABILITY ACT.

    H.R. 4038, entitled the ``Common Sense Health Care Reform and 
Affordability Act'', as introduced in the House of Representatives on 
November 6, 2009, is enacted into law.
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