Health Care Takeover Raises Costs

Many Oklahomans are understandably concerned about the health care takeover President Obama signed into law last week and what it will mean for them. Some of the more jaw-dropping aspects of the law -- like the $569 billion in tax hikes and $523 billion in Medicare cuts -- have been extensively covered in the news. But other provisions that have not received as much attention are just as damaging to our health care system and economy.

In addition to taxes on investment income and job creation, the law includes new taxes on prescription drugs and medical devices like pacemakers and inhalers. New taxes on private health insurance plans go into effect in 2011. These insurance taxes, classified as "annual fees," are scheduled to rise every year, eventually reaching $10 billion per year. This is separate from the 40 percent excise tax on so-called "Cadillac" health insurance plans, which kicks in by 2018 -- long after the next two presidential elections.

These provisions share one very obvious characteristic: They raise health care costs, not lower them. In fact, the law creates so many new taxes that an additional $10 billion in funding was directed to the IRS to hire as many as 16,500 new auditors to enforce them all.

A law that adds at least $1.2 trillion to the deficit and creates hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes should at least achieve its key objective: affordable health care. In this regard, the law is both an utter failure and a missed opportunity. The president and congressional liberals have taken the very serious problem of skyrocketing health costs and made it worse. Rather than address the issues that make health care so expensive, President Obama's plan leaves the current system intact, adds costly new mandates, and forces taxpayers and employers to foot the bill.

A poll conducted by CBS News found that 62 percent of Americans want congressional Republicans to continue to fight the policies enacted by the legislation. And that's exactly what I intend to do. Everyone agrees that the status quo was unacceptable and unsustainable. Issues like coverage for pre-existing conditions and the uninsured absolutely need to be addressed. There are commonsense, market-based solutions on the table to reform the deficiencies and unfair practices in the system without increasing taxes, expanding government power and weakening Medicare. Policies like medical malpractice reform, association health plans, creation of national insurance markets and entitlement reform are all vital to cutting costs and reducing the deficit. President Obama and Speaker Pelosi blocked consideration of these initiatives during debate and ended up with a law that is decidedly unpopular with the American people.

In response to this unpopular new law, there has been a chorus of "repeal and replace." For the sake of our nation's future, we can hope that not only will socialized medicine be repealed and replaced, but so will the liberals in Congress who brought it to us in the first place.

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