August 31, 2009 | House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) | Permalink
If a government takeover
of health care at the expense of America’s seniors, middle class and
small businesses wasn’t enough, Democrats also decided to load up their
costly bill with special-interest giveaways to help their labor union,
trial lawyer, and ACORN friends. It’s no wonder the American people
increasingly oppose the proposal put together by President Obama,
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and House Democratic leaders. House
Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) responded today:
“Chock full of liberal special-interest giveaways, it’s no wonder
public support for the Democrats’ government takeover of health care is
plummeting. American seniors, families and small businesses should not
be sacrificed at the expense of trial lawyers, unions, and even ACORN.
It’s time to scrap the current bill and start working together on a
common-sense plan to lower costs and increase access to quality health
care.”
|
Written in a
backroom, it’s easy to understand why the House Democrats’ bill
provides numerous giveaways to special-interest groups and their
allies. Here are just a few examples:
- Page 95; Section 205
– The bill directs the “Health Choices Commissioner” to conduct
outreach activities, including through the use of outside organizations
such as ACORN and others, to reach out and enroll exchange-eligible
individuals and employers.
- Page 31-32; Section 123(a)(5)
– The bill requires that the Health Benefits Advisory Committee include
labor unions. This advisory committee would be charged with
recommending covered benefits for essential, enhanced, and premium
plans. Although the reference to ‘labor’ does not necessarily require
a union representative or a unionized employee on the committee, the
choice of that word as opposed to ‘employees’ suggests that organized
labor would likely be assured a position on the advisory committee.
- Page 53; Section 154
– The bill ensures that the new federal health care program will set a
floor (but not a ceiling) for health care negotiations for unionized
employers. The legislation cannot be construed to excuse them from
good-faith bargaining over health care benefits. Furthermore, it will
not permit unionized employers to unilaterally drop health coverage of
its employees in favor of shunting them into the government-run plan or
simply paying the penalty associated with not offering health care
benefits to workers.
- Pages 533-551; Section 1412
– The bill requires the Comptroller General of the U.S. to conduct a
study examining: “(A) the extent to which corporations that own or
operate large numbers of nursing facilities … are undercapitalizing
such facilities; (
 the effects of such undercapitalization on quality
of care, including staffing and food costs, at such facilities; (C)
options to address such undercapitalization, such as requirements
relating to surety bonds, liability insurance, or minimum
capitalization.” This provision primarily benefits trial lawyers who
sue nursing homes.
- Pages 551-569; Section 1413
– The bill requires HHS to include certain kinds of information about
nursing home facilities and skilled nursing facilities on its website,
including staffing, turnover, and tenure data for each facility. It
also requires the HHS Secretary to consult with labor unions
representing workers at the facility in reviewing the information. By
giving labor unions a voice in deciding what information will appear on
the website, the bill creates an opportunity for the unions to drive
their staffing or other agendas.
- Pages 1007-1017; Sec. 2531
– The bill establishes labor union grants for the training of nurses
through a partnership grant program that would award grants for
collaborative programs between staff nurse organizations, health care
providers, and accredited schools of nursing. Except for nursing
schools, entities must work with labor unions in order to meet the
eligibility requirements for receiving grant funds. Not only do these
grants have to go to joint union-run programs (unless they go directly
to nursing schools), but the bill further restricts eligibility for the
grants to health care employers, which pay prevailing wages and
subsidize the costs of their employees’ participating in these training
programs. To the extent the grant program is effective, nursing
shortages will become worse in non-unionized hospitals than in
unionized hospitals. These training programs will also provide unions
with access to future nurses before they even complete their training,
which could make it easier for the unions to organize those nurses in
the future—either because of gratitude for the union’s involvement in
providing their training, or else simply due to their early access to
the employees.
The American people shouldn’t be sacrificed to line the pockets of liberal, special-interest groups; they don’t want a government takeover
of their health care; and they want common sense reforms to lower
health care costs and increase access for those who don’t currently
have health care coverage. Shouldn’t Democrats work with Republicans
on common sense solutions to deliver on the reforms the American people
expect and deserve?
|
| GOPLEADER.GOV
Comments