Rooney: Obamacare Anniversary Marks Two Years of Higher Costs, Broken Promises
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney (FL-16) today issued the following statement on tomorrow’s two-year anniversary of Obamacare, which was signed into law on March 23, 2010:
“Before the President signed Obamacare into law, then-Speaker Pelosi said the Democrats would have to pass the bill before the American people could find out what was in it. Two years later, we have seen clearly that the promises about what the bill would mean for you and your family have been broken. No wonder the White House is trying to ignore this milestone.
“They said Obamacare would reduce costs, but it’s actually made health care less affordable. They said it would create jobs, but it’s actually costing our economy hundreds of thousands of much-needed jobs. They said you could keep your plan and your doctor, but it will actually force millions of Americans to lose the care they have and like. They said it was deficit neutral, but the cost to taxpayers is growing by the trillions.
“These broken promises have fueled demands from my constituents that we repeal this law and replace it with proposals that will actually bring down costs. The House has passed a full repeal, and we’ve also worked to dismantle this failed law one piece at a time. Just today, we repealed the Obamacare rationing board and replaced it with legislation to reduce costs through medical liability reform.
“We will not stop until Obamacare is fully repealed and in its place we enact common sense, patient-centered reforms that will actually cut costs for American families, reduce the burden on taxpayers, protect jobs, and expand access to affordable care.”
Two Years of Broken Promises
• The President promised a bill that would reduce costs insurance premiums by $2,500 for every family, but he produced one that will drive costs even higher. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the law will force premiums for family policies to increase an average of $2,100 annually – a sharper increase than if Washington done nothing.
• If you like your plan, you can’t keep it. The administration’s own estimates show that up to 80 percent of small businesses will have to change plans for their employees to comply with the law, and a recent CBO study concluded that four million Americans will lose the plan they have today.
• The law is crushing job growth, not creating jobs. CBO has concluded that 800,000 jobs will be lost over the next ten years as a result of the health care bill.
• The costs for taxpayers have doubled. CBO has adjusted its ten-year projections of the law’s costs from $938 billion to $1.76 trillion.
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