Murkowski Calls for Permanent Delay of “Unworkable” Health Care Law
If Administration is Truly “Listening,” it Should Address Several Concerns of Cost and Implementation
WASHINGTON, DC — With the Obama Administration postponing its health care employer mandate for a year – a decision leading Senate architects of the bill to say “This was the law. How can they change the law?” – Senator Lisa Murkowski and dozens of her Senate colleagues are urging the entire health care reform law be permanently postponed in the face of public backlash and projected cost spikes.
Last Tuesday, the White House’s Senior Policy Director Valerie Jarrett discussed the one year reprieve in a blog post for businesses, saying “We are listening” to their problems implementing the reform bill. When this news development was announced, Senator Murkowski said that she hoped the one year delay would open discussions to resolve more issues in the troublesome legislation ruled to be a tax by the Supreme Court last June.
In a letter written directly to the White House today (attached), Murkowski and 45 Senators expand on that point, saying the administration should listen to all the concerns from Americans against the bill, not just employers. They write:
- “A recent Gallup poll from June of 2013 showed that a majority of Americans disapprove of the Affordable Care Act. The same survey revealed that for every one person who believes they will be better off under the Affordable Care Act, two believe they will be worse off.”
- “When the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, the average individual mandate tax will be nearly $1,200, which clearly contradicts your previous statement that the individual mandate ‘is absolutely not a tax increase.’”
- “Under the individual mandate, the IRS, which is still under multiple investigations for unfairly targeting conservative groups, will play a central role in the implementation of the health care law in our country.”
- “Last week, the Wall Street Journal published an analysis of premiums and concluded that under your law some Americans will see their premiums ‘double or even triple.’”
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