Cutler Issues Statement on Health Care Legislation Debated in House
HARRISBURG
--
Rep. Bryan Cutler (R-100) released the following statement in reaction to the health care legislation debated in the House
yesterday:
"The legislation we debated (Wednesday) that would create the Access to Basic Care (ABC) program, does not provide enough specific details on the health care coverage being promised. I want to know where the money to fund the $120 million in start-up costs for this program will come from, as well as the year after year funding. It seems ill-advised to me to approve such an expensive program when funding is contingent on federal approval and relies on funding streams, such as the tobacco settlement and cigarette tax, which are set to end or expected to decline. We should have learned from the debacle created when we approved a transportation funding plan based on the tolling of I-80, which is still awaiting federal approval almost a year later.
"The plan that Republicans have been advocating for months, unlike the program the Democrats cobbled together and hid from public review until yesterday, would provide health care coverage to thousands of uninsured Pennsylvanians. Our plan is consumer driven and includes price transparency. Additionally, the Republican plan does not have the potential to trigger future tax increases, as this plan does. ABC is reminiscent of the program instituted in Massachusetts, which is in many ways considered a failure.
"It is just wrong to raid the MCare Fund to subsidize this program. Doctors paid into the fund as a protection from rising medical malpractice insurance costs, and now, when we are still in a time of crisis for attracting new doctors, we want to fleece MCare. It will not matter if every person in Pennsylvania has health insurance if we drive all of the health care providers out of the state. Not only is it inappropriate to take money from this fund, but this is also a short-term funding stream for the ABC program."
