[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 11040-11041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         FAILURES OF OBAMACARE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last week while the 
American people were preparing to celebrate the 237th birthday of the 
Nation, the Obama administration announced, via a blog post, that it 
will provide an additional year before the employer reporting 
requirements and the employer shared responsibility requirements of 
ObamaCare take effect.
  There are few issues as personal and significant in the lives of 
individuals and families as health and well-being, which is why the 
irony of reminding Americans that government now controls their health 
care during the week we celebrate our country's independence did not go 
unnoticed. Despite efforts to quietly buy time and obfuscate 
responsibility for this fatally designed health care law, most 
Americans rightfully view this delay as an admission of failure.
  Mr. Speaker, the businesses that provide the jobs and the source of 
health care coverage for most Americans were not surprised by this 
announcement. Most are well aware that this law was thoughtlessly 
rammed through Congress in the middle of the night with a litany of 
technology flaws and other blatant failures.
  Unfortunately, employers have been struggling with high health care 
costs since before the law passed. Given the combined pressure of new 
taxes and regulations, businesses are hurting exponentially worse now 
that the law's provisions have begun to take effect. These new 
government mandates incentivize businesses to reduce their workforce to 
under 50 full-time equivalency employees. To avoid financial penalties, 
the incentive under ObamaCare is to reduce individual hours to avoid 
these mandates. Employees now face the redefinition of ``full-time'' 
down to just 35 hours per week.
  This law denies opportunities for growth that could and should be 
available and promoted. This is fundamentally counter to what a vibrant 
and robust American economy demands. Fewer jobs and reduced individual 
hours are not good for individuals, for families, for businesses, or 
for our economy. Nonetheless, employees and employers alike are 
experiencing the consequences of ``Obama-sizing'' both businesses and 
jobs.
  By the time the law is fully implemented in 2023, the Congressional 
Budget Office estimates that the President's health care law will still 
leave 30 million Americans uninsured. At the same time, the law is 
massively driving up the cost of care for both employers and employees. 
In fact, 17 of the Nation's largest insurance companies indicate that 
health insurance premiums will grow an average of 100 percent under 
this law.
  The evidence is overwhelmingly conclusive, Mr. Speaker: ObamaCare is 
not only unaffordable, but it also fails to address access to care in 
any meaningful way. In the process, we're damaging everything that is 
good and effective about the current system. To boot, we're undermining 
growth and stalling our economic recovery. Effectively, we've thrown 
the baby out with the bathwater. The fact that the White House used a 
blog post to announce the employer mandate change reveals just how 
desperate the administration is to

[[Page 11041]]

cover up the flaws of this fatally flawed bill. Unfortunately, this is 
not something the White House was willing to admit until after the 
midterm election.

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