Washington

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used a rare Saturday session to pass a nearly 2,000-page bill that would lead to more jobs losses, painful cuts in medical care for seniors and unprecedented power for government officials to fine and throw in jail those who cannot afford or chose not to buy health insurance.

Congressman Jim Gerlach (PA-6th District) stood with the workers, job creators and taxpayers in voting against the massive bill, which the media reported was longer than "War and Peace" and weighed in at a hefty 19.6 pounds.

"Speaker Pelosi just handed the American people a prescription for higher unemployment and bigger government with a $1 trillion co-payment that generations to come will be paying," Gerlach said. "The $500 billion in tax hikes included in this bill will place a huge financial burden on Pennsylvania’s more than 32,000 small businesses at a time when workers are watching jobs vanish at an alarming rate. If we do not get serious about creating jobs, the number of people without health insurance will keep growing.

"Instead of punishing employers with new taxes, Congress should be passing true reforms that offer incentives to provide coverage for workers and their families and encourage competition among insurance companies so that consumers benefit from more affordable premiums."

Opposition to the Pelosi bill was bi-partisan with 39 Democrats and 176 Republicans voting against the bill.

While the Pelosi plan would require nutritional information stickers on vending machines, it ignored important lawsuit-abuse reforms that could save medical care providers and their patients $150 billion per year, Gerlach said.

"Allowing doctors to focus on the best treatment for their patients rather than protecting themselves against career-ending lawsuits would improve the quality of care and drive down the cost of treatments substantially," he said.

One provision of the Pelosi health care bill that would have a major impact on jobs in the 6th District and throughout Pennsylvania is a $2 billion per year tax on medical testing products that help detect ovarian, breast and pancreatic cancer; products used in hip-replacement surgery and to help patients heal broken limbs; heart stents used in life-saving operations; and other medical devices.

Pennsylvania has approximately 600 medical device manufactures that employ roughly 20,000 people in jobs that often pay more than $50,000 per year.

Congressman Gerlach supported an amendment to take the tax out of the final bill sent to the House floor. However, that amendment failed along a party-line vote late Friday.

"This tax alone could cost Pennsylvania workers their jobs and stifle investment in treatments that have extended and improved the lives of countless patients," Gerlach said.

Here is a look at how the Pelosi Health Care Bill would affect families, seniors, workers and health care providers:

• People who do not purchase "acceptable health care coverage," as defined by the bureaucratic standards in the bill will pay a 2.5 percent tax based on their Adjusted Gross Income. The tax on a person with an Adjusted Gross Income of $35,000 per year would be $875.
• A new 5.4 percent "surtax" on individuals with income of more than $500,000 and families with incomes greater than $1 million. More than half of all high-income filers are small businesses; this provision would cripple small businesses and destroy jobs during a deep recession. According to the non-partisan Joint Tax Committee, 42% of all small business income will be subject to this new surtax. According to The Heritage Foundation, 32,500 small businesses in Pennsylvania will be required to pay this new tax.
• A new 8% payroll tax on employers who fail to provide "acceptable" health insurance to their employees will impact approximately 65% of Pennsylvania’s small businesses with employees. (Calculations based on U.S. Census Data).

• A new $20 billion per year tax on medical devices used by doctors and other health care providers. In Pennsylvania, there are almost 600 medical device companies that employ over 20,000 Pennsylvanians in high paying jobs.
• Hospitals in the 6th Congressional District are expected to see funding cuts of approximately $46 million per year, according to the American Hospital Association. Hospitals will have to reduce services and staff or increase rates patients are charged to make up for the lost funding.

• In order to pay for this government takeover of health care, Democrats have proposed cutting nearly $500 billion in Medicare spending.
• The Pelosi bill would cut Medicare spending for the 35,110 seniors in the 6th District who are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
• There are 27,361 seniors in the 6th District who have a Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plan. In Pennsylvania, that number is 687,469, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

• The Pelosi bill does not allow a family of four in Pennsylvania making just more than $33,000 per year to keep the insurance coverage they currently have through the state’s extremely popular Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Instead, the bill forces these families into the new federal government program where they would pay higher out-of-pocket expenses.
• Health Savings Accounts are not protected as "acceptable coverage." Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee actually defeated an amendment to clarify that the 8 million Americans---including 163,724 individuals in Pennsylvania – could keep their HSA if they wanted to. (Source: America’s Health Insurance Plans).
• The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation confirmed that individuals who fail to comply with mandate to buy health insurance in the Pelosi bill are subject "to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years."

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