The new Republican majority in the U.S. House will vote Wednesday whether to repeal the health care law passed last year with the support of President Barack Obama. Floridas congressional delegation is expected to mirror Congress as a whole and divide on partisan lines, with Republicans voting to repeal and Democrats voting to keep it in place.
While the constitutional challenge launched last year by then-Attorney General Bill McCollum and continued by current Attorney General Pam Bondi garnered more of the headlines, Sunshine State Republicans in Congress were pushing for repeal of the new health-care law soon after it was passed.
U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, considering a run against Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson in 2012, called for repeal of the new law throughout 2010 and made it one of the cornerstones of his unsuccessful bid to move into the Republican leadership after the November elections.
U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw, whose staff said Tuesday that he would back the repeal measure, came out swinging at the law when the president signed it.
Another critic of the health-care bill, who said he backed repealing it from the beginning, was Republican candidate Marco Rubio, who won his U.S. Senate seat in part because of that opposition.
The Republicans in Floridas delegation, who control 19 of the states 25 seats, show no sign of backing off their commitment to support the repeal.
Freshman Republican U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, who was named Tuesday chairman of the Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce under the umbrella of the full Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the repeal vote was a crucial one.
Tomorrows vote will be a vital first step in repealing this unconstitutional government takeover of our health-care choices, said Ross on Tuesday. I wish the president had listened to the American people before forcing this takeover through Congress. I, for one, heard their message loud and clear in November.
But we cannot stop at repealing and defunding Obamacare, added Ross who was one of the co-sponsors of the bill. We must open the insurance market across state lines, reform Medicare and Medicaid by giving states spending flexibility, expand HSAs and individual ownership of health insurance, and work with state legislatures to end junk lawsuits and defensive medicine. Defending economic freedom and medical privacy tomorrow is step one. I look forward to the many, market-driven steps ahead.
Fellow Florida Republican freshman U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams was one of 179 sponsors of the repeal bill.
It is imperative that the Democrats job-killing health-care law is repealed and replaced with a more affordable and common-sense solution that is why I have co-sponsored legislation to repeal the current law, said Adams earlier in the month when the bill was introduced. The existing health-care law moves this country in the wrong direction, putting power into the hands of Washington bureaucrats, rather than individuals. Not only is it an issue of overreaching government control, but it will place job-killing mandates on small businesses and will have devastating consequences on Florida seniors much-needed Medicare. Unlike the current law, Republicans reform would focus on the true issues of reform lowering costs and increasing access to quality affordable care.
The American people have called on their leaders to reject the Democrats health-care law and it is time to show them that their voices have been heard, added Adams. Repealing the health-care law is the first step toward fiscal sanity and is needed to finally turn the economy around. In order to get the country back on a better fiscal path, it is necessary to stand strong on the principles of less government, cutting spending and focusing on pro-business policies.
Besides Adams and Ross, the other Florida Republicans sponsoring the bill were U.S. Representatives Gus Bilirakis, Vern Buchanan, Mario Diaz-Balart, Mack, Jeff Miller, Rich Nugent, Bill Posey, David Rivera, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Cliff Stearns and Bill Young.
But some Florida Democrats said they were ready to back the laws and claimed that they had momentum, with Americans supporting their position.
Americans are already receiving the benefits of the Affordable Care Act, said South Florida Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Tuesday, who argued that repealing the measure would adversely impact seniors, women and children. Repeal will affect real people.
Wasserman Schultz insisted that repealing the health-care law would allow insurance companies to deny patients based on gender and on the basis of havingpre-existing conditions.
Pointing to a poll released earlier in the week by the Associated Press, Wasserman Schultz claimed that supporters of the laws had momentum. Only 25 percent of Americans favor complete repeal, said Wasserman Schultz, adding that voters were more focused on jobs and the economy.
While the measure is expected to pass through the House, the Senate --which remains controlled by the Democrats --shows no sign of repealing the law.
Floridas two senators are expected to divide on party lines with Republican Rubio backing the repeal and Democrat Nelson opposing it.
Nelson weighed in on the repeal effort earlier in the month, arguing that repealing the law would hurt more senior citizens on Medicaid.
I believe that no matter where people stand on certain specifics of this complex law, most of us can agree the current system can be unfair and too costly," said Nelson. "The system needs to be fixed. I don't think the health-care law is perfect, but it certainly helps a lot of people -- especially senior citizens."
Nelson's office estimated 260,000 senior citizens in Florida would be impacted by the change.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
