Posted at: 11/08/2009 12:26 PM
Updated at: 11/08/2009 1:45 PM
By: WNYT Staff

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Congressman Scott Murphy votes 'no' for Healthcare Reform Act

THE FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT FROM A PRESS RELEASE FROM CONGRESSMAN SCOTT MURPHY'S OFFICE REGARDING THE HEALTH CARE REFORM ACT:

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Scott Murphy (NY-20) voted no on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Healthcare for America Act.

“I spent the past six months traveling the 20^th District holding more than 100 events to have an open and honest discussion about health care with the people of our district.  As your Congressman, I firmly believe that health care reform is critical to strengthening our nation. However, in order to achieve this goal, we must address the fundamentally flawed system that has led to skyrocketing costs, bankrupt families and extremely profitable insurance companies.  For these reasons, I voted no on H.R. 3962 (Saturday night.)

“This bill makes a number of important reforms, which I wholeheartedly support including the elimination of the lifetime caps on insurance benefits and the pre-existing condition exclusion, invests in prevention and primary care, creates a health insurance exchange to force insurance companies to compete and offers a public option for people who want to get away from for-profit insurance companies.

“However, I have consistently said that any bill that Congress passes must curb costs and keep health care affordable in the long term. During these difficult economic times, an unacceptably high price tag will stress our already overstretched federal budget and place even more burdens on our hard working individuals, families and small businesses. We need to fix the system now, and not put off the hard choices for another generation. Furthermore, I am deeply frustrated by the last minute addition of over $50 billion in taxes on the two largest private employers in the 20^th District – medical device manufacturers and paper mills.

“As a small businessman, I am also concerned that H.R. 3962 falls short of making health insurance affordable for the small businesses of the 20^th District; it fails to reform the fundamentally flawed incentives in the system, which continue to drive costs upward; and it fails to restrain the monopolistic practices of private insurers, which allow them to continue to increase premiums already weighing on families and small businesses.

“I remain committed to the goal of providing quality, affordable health care and I will continue to fight to change the broken health care system for America’s families.”