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Van Hollen Statement on The Protect Medical Innovation Act (HR 436)
Washington,
Jun 7, 2012 -
Mr. Speaker, HR 436 is primarily focused on dismantling the Affordable Care Act, which is why I will oppose it today.
Medical devices offer important benefits to individuals throughout the country. In some cases they save lives; in other cases, they improve the quality of life. An important part of the Affordable Care Act was to expand access to the benefits of medical devices by making health insurance more affordable. Indeed, as a result of the Affordable Care Act, over 30 million more Americans will have access to affordable care. This is good for the individuals, and it is also good for the manufacturers of these devices, who will now have more people who can afford their products.
Now, the medical device industry apparently wants to keep the benefits of having more insured people capable of benefitting from their products without contributing to the effort that allows those individuals to afford their coverage in the first place. If every group that joined the effort to expand insurance coverage took that approach, the entire health care reform effort would fall apart — which is precisely the outcome the Republican majority is seeking with this legislation.
Additionally, rather than finding a different way to pay for extending affordable health insurance to over 30 million Americans, this repeal – and the rest of the bill – is offset by eliminating existing protections for middle and lower-income citizens who receive tax credits for insurance they purchase on the exchange, a change the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimates will increase the ranks of the uninsured by 350,000.
While I would support the provision in this bill allowing health care flexible spending account holders to recover up to $500 in unspent funds from their FSAs if it came before the House as a freestanding bill, the vast majority of this legislation is clearly aimed at undermining the Affordable Care Act.
Accordingly, I urge a no vote and yield back the balance of my time.
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Congressman Chris Van Hollen
