Welch opposes new health care overhaul

Press release from Jason Welch, the GOP's state Senate candidate:

Welch for State Senate Addresses Passage of the Affordable Health Choices Act and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act.

BRISTOL, CT – Welch for State Senate released the following statement on passage of the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010.

House passage of the Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 and the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 send the United States in the wrong direction.  Though issues such as preexisting conditions and dropped coverage needed to be addressed, these bills do much more.  They sacrifice the current healthcare system, which works for more than 320 million Americans, and they strike another blow to a struggling economy.  These bills are anti-jobs, anti-economic recovery and anti-elderly.  Moreover, they do nothing to address the true problem facing healthcare -- rising costs.

These bills amount to a $2.5 trillion takeover of the healthcare system. But setting the philosophical arguments of capitalism versus socialism aside, these bills are wholly inappropriate today as they strike another blow to an economy struggling to recover.  These bills:

• Impose 10 years of tax increase for 6 years of alleged benefit;
• Raise taxes on investment income, which is the money that keeps the economy growing and creates jobs;
• Add $750-$2000 in costs per employee on small business, which will result in job losses; and
• Eventually tax union healthcare plans;

These bills also reduce services provided to our elderly through Medicare by reducing funding by more than $500 billion.
 Indeed, these bills do nothing to strike at the heart of the healthcare crisis.  That is these bills do not control rising costs. Without tort reform, doctors will still practice defensive medicine and provide extra services to meet rising standards of care.  In addition, these bills do not address runaway costs associated with overuse of the healthcare system due to HMOs.  Congress ought to have instituted less drastic reforms that address rising costs, such as tort reform, health savings accounts and increased competition across state lines, before instituting its current social experiment.
 Welch disagrees with Senator Colapietro’s comment that “Obama’s plan is better than what we have already.”  Obama’s plan is worse than what we have, and though reform is needed it must make economic sense and focus on reducing healthcare costs.

Jason Welch seeks to be the Republican nominee to the State Senate race for the 31^st District, which includes Bristol, Plainville, Plymouth and parts of Harwinton.

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Copyright 2010. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com