Iowa Congressman

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Washington, Jul 11 - Iowa Congressman Tom Latham will vote late Wednesday afternoon to repeal President Obama’s health care law that enables the government takeover of American health care.  Latham’s vote is part of his longstanding effort to replace the unpopular and harmful law with common-sense reforms that will increase health care access and lower costs for hardworking Americans without giving away control of their personal health care decisions to Washington bureaucrats.  

“We’ve learned a good deal about how harmful this law will continue to be to the stability of our health care system, patient choice and the economy.  It was built on a foundation of tax hikes, broken promises, budgeting gimmicks and accounting tricks that explodes health care costs and plunges our country even further into debt.  While the Supreme Court had the duty to determine the constitutionality of this law, it did not have the authority to determine if it is good or bad policy for hardworking Iowans.  Thankfully, it is still the American people who ultimately have the power and the right to make that final judgment.  And I believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans want us to repeal this harmful and misguided law and start over.”

Latham has already authored his own health care reform legislation, HR 364, which would control health care costs, expand access to quality health care to more Americans and wouldn’t add a penny to the federal debt.

“My bill provides a solution made up of better ideas that offer better solutions that will produce the best results for everyone.  It is a serious, patient-centered approach that gives the American people a voice in this process and puts them in control of their own health care, not the government,” Congressman Latham said.

Congressman Latham, who opposed the president’s and congressional Democrats’ health care law when it was first passed by Congress, joined a majority of his colleagues in the House in early 2011 to repeal the health care legislation.  Since then, he’s repeatedly stood on principle and fought to repeal the most harmful individual provisions in the new law while pushing for legislation he authored as a better alternative.

Congressman Latham’s legislation, titled the “Common Sense Health Reform Americans Actually Want Act,” includes the following provisions:

-- It guarantees affordable health care to those with pre-existing conditions, without making coverage unaffordable for others.
-- It allows children to stay on their parents’ health insurance plans until the age of 26.
-- It greatly reduces the cost of individual health policies by allowing a full deduction for health insurance premiums - whether or not a taxpayer itemizes deductions.
-- It allows health insurance plans to be purchased across state lines.
-- It establishes small business health plans, so small employers can pool together to negotiate for lower premiums for workers.
-- It contains real medical liability reform, saving money by reining in unnecessary medical procedures.
-- It enhances health savings accounts by allowing taxpayers to use HSA funds to pay the premiums for the health insurance plan that is paired with the account.
-- It cracks down on Medicare and Medicaid fraud, saving billions