After spending the August recess listening to the American people voice their opposition to Nancy Pelosi’s planned government takeover of our health care system, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives choose to ignore the will of their constituents.

They passed a $1.3 trillion dollar health-care bill that creates 118 new federal bureaucracies, grows the size and cost of government and will lead to a rationing of health care.

This is not the bill that the people want.

The American people have made their voices heard to anyone willing to listen. They want lower health-care premiums, increased access to health care, less red tape and government bureaucracy, more freedom and choice in their care, and above all, the highest quality care that only the U.S. health care system can provide. This bill that Congress passed provides none of these.

We are fortunate in that we have the greatest health care systemin the world, but it is not perfect. As a doctor, I can assure you that our system needs reform.

We need to increase the freedom that patients have to choose plans and physicians. We need to address medical liability reform which could save the system over $54 billion. We must allow medical decisions to be made between a patient and their doctor, not by a health care czar appointed by the executive branch of our federal government.

If this bill promoted by the Democratic leadership was so good, why did they rush to vote? Why was there not extended debate? Why were congressmen voting on a 2,032-page bill that they had hardly had time to print out, let alone read and comprehend? Why wasn’t this bill, unaltered, in its entirety, posted online for the American people to review?

The passage of this bill will have great ramifications on our economy. Unemployment is at record levels. More than one in 10 people are unemployed. This bill is projected to kill another 5.5 million jobs, even as our economy fights to return from our current recession.

This bill also raises taxes on individuals and small businesses to the tune of $729 million. It cuts Medicare by almost $500 billion and it substantially grows the size of government.

This Congress has already passed a $1.1 trillion stimulus bill, a $410 billion omnibus spending bill and now a $1.3 trillion health care bill.

I am running for Congress to promote freedom, lower taxes and to renew the American dream for our children and grandchildren, not to saddle them with enormous debt.

With his vote this weekend, Rep. Brad Ellsworth has proved that he does not stand for lower taxes. He does not stand with small businesses. He wants to grow the size and cost of government, and he wants the taxpayers of the 8th Congressional District to foot the bill.

Enough is enough. We cannot continue to lead this country further into debt just to appease the liberal leaders of Congress.

Rep. Ellsworth was instrumental in reaching a compromise to see that this bill received enough votes to pass. For that, the voters should hold him accountable.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 3:44 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.