Health Care
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This past Friday marked the two-year anniversary of the enactment of President Obama’s health care law, formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Nebraskans often remind me of their displeasure of the process used by Congress to pass the bill. Two years later, health care costs are soaring and the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is forecasting as many as 20 million Americans could lose the health care coverage they were promised they could keep.
Washington, DC – Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) released the following statement on the two-year anniversary of President Obama’s health care law:
Washington, DC – Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) today voted to pass the Protecting Access to Healthcare (PATH) Act (H.R. 5), which would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) and reform medical malpractice laws.
“This bipartisan legislation will help restore the integrity of our health and retirement security system by removing a major barrier between patients and their doctors,” said Smith, who supports full repeal of the President’s health care law.
Washington, DC – Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) today voted for the Medicare Decisions Accountability Act (H.R. 452), which would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), during consideration in the House Ways & Means Committee.
Religious liberty is America’s first and founding principle. Our nation was built and settled by generations of people who fled the tyranny and religious oppression of their homelands. Our Founders sought to preserve religious liberty by ensuring this nation protected against the establishment of any law impeding the free exercise of one's religious beliefs. This principle is enshrined in the First Amendment of our Constitution which reads in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Washington, DC – Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE) joined a bipartisan group of 154 Members of Congress on a letter to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. This letter opposes HHS’s new government mandate forcing religious-affiliated organizations which offer health insurance to cover the full cost of contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortifacients even if it is a clear violation of their conscience rights.
Washington, D.C. – Congressman Adrian Smith (R-NE), Co-Chair of the Rural Veterans Caucus, today sent a second letter to the Director of the VA Black Hills Health Care System, Stephen DiStasio, calling for the VA to allow more time to review a proposed reduction in services at their Hot Springs, SD facility.
Thomas Jefferson once opined, “History convinces me that most bad government has grown out of too much government.” Never has this sentiment proven to be more true than today. Certainly, I could point to numerous examples of the ill effects of bureaucratic largesse. One such example gaining attention in Congress is a provision of President Obama’s unpopular health care law called the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports, or CLASS Act.
President Obama’s unpopular health care law is back in the news again, but not for the reasons its supporters would like. In the coming weeks, the Supreme Court will take a hard look at the law to decide whether it passes constitutional muster. |