Obamacare--Another Idiotic Response From U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein

This letter just came in from California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.  It is unbelievable how “out of touch” with the electorate these progressives are.  Unbelievable!  They still really believe that Obamacare will reduce healthcare costs.  What are they smoking?  Must be pot.  In California, pot is legalized for medicinal purposes (har, har!).  She also considers the CBO as a non-partisan agency.  The CBO is infested with liberals, progressives, and statists.  Surely, she jests.  If the U.S. Supreme Court does not knock down Obamacare as unconstitutional, the new POTUS (Mitt Romney) will abolish Obamacare–the worst piece of legislation ever in the history of the United States.

Dear Mr. Uda:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for repealing health care reform legislation. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond. 

As you may know, President Obama signed two health care reform bills into law: the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148), and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act (Public Law 111-152) (“The Affordable Care Act”).  Together these laws are projected to provide health insurance to millions of Americans while also significantly reducing federal deficits.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the non-partisan agency which provides official estimates of the cost of legislation for Congress, the two health care laws will reduce federal deficits by $210 billion from 2012-2021, and over $1 trillion in the second decade.  The CBO estimates that a repeal of the health reform law would increase the federal deficit by $210 billion over the next decade and decrease the number of insured Americans by 32 million.  Additionally, insurance companies would once again be allowed to discriminate against individuals with pre-existing conditions, seniors would have to pay higher costs for exams and prescription drugs, and millions of young people would lose coverage through their parents’ insurance. 

Furthermore, repealing the Affordable Care Act would eliminate provisions intended to address the rising cost of insurance premiums.  The Affordable Care Act includes a requirement that insurance companies spend 80 to 85 percent of premium dollars on medical care and quality improvement, rather than on administrative costs.  The Department of Health and Human Services projects that this requirement will protect 74.8 million insured Americans in 2011 from unjustified premium increases and in 2012 up to 9 million Americans could be eligible for rebates worth up to $1.4 billion.  I believe repealing these consumer protections would be detrimental to both the health and economic security of the American people.

I supported health care reform because I believe it will lower premium costs, increase access to health insurance, and provide new consumer protections from insurance company abuses.  It is not a perfect law, but I believe it goes a long way to improving our nation’s health care system.  Please know that I will keep your comments in mind as Congress considers legislation on this topic in the years to come.

Again, thank you for contacting me. If you should have any further comments or questions, please feel free to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.

Sincerely yours,

  Dianne Feinstein
         United States Senator