[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 18503]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




   THE HEALTH CARE BILL WILL CREATE ADDITIONAL TAXPAYER EXPENDITURES

  (Mr. WHITFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. WHITFIELD. Last night, as the Energy and Commerce Committee met 
to debate the new health care reform bill offered by the Democratic 
Party, as I looked through the analysis by CBO, I discovered that there 
was a reduction in Medicare benefits over the next 10 years in excess 
of $450 billion.
  In addition to that, there was a reduction in reimbursements to 
hospitals of $155 billion over the next 10 years.
  The part of it that bothered me most is that in so many rural areas, 
programs like Medicare Advantage, home health care, skilled nursing 
care were particularly hit by these reductions.
  In addition to that, this bill provides for an additional tax on 
employers, a tax on individuals that do not go out and buy health 
insurance once the mandate goes into effect; and, still, the bill is 
not paid for. And as the CBO director indicated, this bill will not 
save taxpayer money. This bill will create additional taxpayer 
expenditures.

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