Dear XXXXXXXXXXX,,

Thank you for contacting my office regarding your perspectives on the
proposed health care reform legislation. I appreciate knowing your
views about issues affecting Northwest Florida and our nation.

The American health care system is in need of reform. Costs are
rising, people are denied care, and millions of Americans are
uninsured. However, the bill proposed by the majority party in the
House-America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (H.R. 3200)-is
neither affordable nor does it provide many health care choices. On
the contrary, the bill will cost well over $1 trillion dollars, force
people into a government-run health care program, and will actually
raise the cost of health care for all Americans. The majority party
should slow down and allow Members of Congress to read, understand,
and revise the bill instead of pushing it through based on arbitrary
deadlines. I am also co-sponsoring H.Res. 615 so that any Member of
Congress who votes for this government-run health care plan should be
automatically enrolled in the public option.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the
preliminary cost of H.R. 3200 at $1.28 trillion, increasing the budget
deficit by $239 billion. But these numbers hide the real cost. Only
0.6% of the spending will occur in the first 3 years, with the costs
increasing drastically in the final few years of the legislation. In
other words, the majority of the spending will happen after 2013, but
the huge tax increase to pay for this spending will begin in 2011. 8
years of taxes to pay for 6 years of spending is a budgetary gimmick
that puts our country’s financial future at stake.

To pay for government-run health care, H.R. 3200 raises taxes to the
tune of $818 billion. The bill includes a surtax on wealthy Americans
which will increase the top tax rate to 45% of income. As more than
half of all individuals in the top tax bracket report significant
business income, these tax increases would harm small business owners,
potentially resulting in significant job losses. However, more
concerning are the penalties placed on people and small businesses
that cannot afford health insurance. In order to achieve universal
health insurance, this bill will place an 8% tax on any company that
does not provide insurance. In addition, it will place a 2.5% tax on
any individual that does not purchase insurance. The bill actually
taxes the people who can’t afford insurance in the first place.

H.R. 3200 institutes a huge, government-run health care system that
does absolutely nothing to bring down the cost of health care. The
director of the CBO testified to Congress that this bill will actually
cause costs to increase over time. The so-called “public option” is
estimated to cause over 114 million Americans to lose their current
employer-based coverage and join the government plan. Because the
government pays a lower, set-rate to physicians, most employers and
employees would migrate to this plan. This will lead to health care
rationing because doctors will not be able to afford to provide proper
care under government-run health care. Finally, and perhaps most
appalling, H.R. 3200 will create a health benefits advisory board that
will mandate a minimum set of benefits for all private insurance
plans. This means that if advisory board deems abortion services as a
“minimum benefit,” then your tax dollars will help provide for these
services.

The stated goals of health care reform are affordability and
accessibility. Accessibility to insurance for all Americans is an
admirable objective that I fully support, but we must focus on
lowering the cost of health care first. If we bring down the cost of
insurance, more businesses will be able to provide it and more
Americans will be able to afford it.

Government-run health care is not the answer. Health care reform must
be consumer driven and contain some basic tenets in order to lower
costs and provide more coverage. First, we can bring down the cost by
increasing the portability of insurance. By removing the barriers to
employer-based and private health insurance, overhead costs will be
brought down significantly. Second, Congress should extend the tax
exemption on employer-provided insurance to the private insurance
market. Leveling this divide will increase competition, drive down
costs, and insure more Americans. Third, we should increase access to
health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts. And finally,
Congress must pass tort-reform. Doctors are now paying hundreds of
thousands of dollars each every year for malpractice insurance. On
top of that, physicians are forced to practice “defensive medicine” by
ordering dozens of unnecessary tests just to protect themselves from
lawsuits. If we can limit the frivolous lawsuits and exorbitant
damages, we can drastically lower the cost of medicine. I hope the
President and my colleagues in Congress will work to implement these
ideas in the ongoing health care reform debate.

Again, thank you for contacting me about this important issue. If you
would like to receive further information on issues of importance to
you, please log on to my website at http://jeffmiller.house.gov/ .
As always, please feel free to contact my office if you have any
further concerns.