Two Key Questions for Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick

Last Battles of the Congressional Recess

You can get a printable version of this post here.

Dear CD1 Taxpayers and Tea Partiers:

Today and Friday are your last chances (and for many of you, your only chances…) to speak to Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick in real, live town halls, before she returns to the Imperial City to vote on national health care legislation and other issues. You need to let her know what you think about turning over the American health care system to the control of Congress and the bureaucrats and political appointees in Washington.

Here are the specifics on the two Kirkpatrick town halls:

Type: Town Hall
Topic(s): Health Care
Date: Thursday, September 3
City: Holbrook (Navajo County Forum)
Host(s): Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick
Ideological Orientation: Leaning toward national health care
Time: 5:30 to 7:00 pm. Doors open at 4:30 pm.
Location: Holbrook High School Auditorium, 455 N. 8th Avenue, Holbrook, AZ 86025
More info: http://kirkpatrick.house.gov/
Note: We strongly suggest arriving early for the Kirkpatrick town hall—by 4:00 pm, if necessary. If you arrive too late, and cannot get into the town hall, please have your tea party signs, water, and outdoor gear ready to use in your car, so that you can protest outside the town hall.

Type: Town Hall
Topic(s): Health Care
Date: Friday, September 4
City: Coolidge (Pinal County)
Host(s): Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick
Ideological Orientation: Leaning toward national health care
Time: 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Doors open at noon.
Location: Central AZ College’s Pence Center, 8470 N. Overfield Road, Coolidge, 85128
More info: http://kirkpatrick.house.gov/ 520-836-3226
Note: We strongly suggest arriving EARLY for the Kirkpatrick town hall—by 11:30 am, if necessary. If you arrive too late, and cannot get into the town hall, please have your tea party signs, water, and sun gear ready to use in your car, so that you can protest outside the town hall.

Two Questions (Among Many) for Congresswoman Kirkpatrick:

1) No Exit, No Real Choice.

One of the most commonly repeated talking points for President Obama and Congress is the idea that “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” under the health care reform legislation on the table in Washington. If Kirkpatrick attempts to maintain the fiction of “if you like your plan, you can keep it,” please confront her with the following provisions of HR 3200:

• Section 102(b), which mandates that after five years, all health care plans will have to meet a new federal definition for a “qualified” health care plan;

• Section 122 (c)(3), which would prohibit the structure currently used in Health Savings Accounts (HSAs);

• Section 102(c), which would mandate the acquisition of plans approved by the federal government by persons who choose to make any changes their employer-provided plans, or who get different plans, in the next five years;

• Section 102(a), which would mandate the acquisition of a federally-approved plan by any person whose insurance company makes any additions to his or her private, individual plan; and,

• Section 412, which allows employers to dump individuals onto the government plan.

2) Unfunded Government Liabilities.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the main House health care bill, HR 3200, would cost over $2 trillion in its first 13 years. The Blue Dogs did shave over $100 billion off the price tag, but that’s a drop in the bucket. According to the Cato Institute:

Taking an even longer view, we calculate that [HR 3200’s] permanent program would add $13.6 trillion to the federal government’s total unfunded obligations in today’s dollars. That is, the government would need to have that amount in the bank today, invested at interest, to fully finance the new program’s subsidy costs as they come due. Social Security and Medicare actuaries estimate that these two programs’ unfunded obligations under today’s policies exceed $100 trillion (not billion) in today’s dollars… [The $13.6 trillion] estimate optimistically assumes that health-care costs will eventually grow with the general inflation rate (they’re currently growing much faster).

That $100 trillion (one hundred trillion dollars) does not include anything else on which people might want to spend taxpayer money: national defense, courts, freeways, etc. $100 trillion is roughly seven times the entire current yearly output of the US economy, or over one million dollars for every American under the age of 18. Covering that gap would require doubling the portion of the economy taken in federal taxation. With massive new taxes and/or with massive borrowing crowding out private investment, there will be fewer resources for the long-term capital formation needed to sustain future productivity. With endless debt, higher taxes, and inflation on the horizon, Americans will continue to save money at dangerously low levels. If we do not change course, the result will be stagnating economic growth—or worse, capital consumption and economic decline.

To protect our children and grandchildren, Rep. Kirkpatrick needs to fight hard to table HR 3200 and point Congress toward fiscally sustainable alternatives. Will she fight to table HR3200, or will she do what Nancy Pelosi tells her to do?

(For positive alternatives, Rep. Kirkpatrick needs to sit down and talk to another member of the Arizona delegation, Rep. John Shadegg, who is one of the best experts in Congress on the issue of market-oriented health care reform.)

More info on health care reform: www.joinpatientsfirst.com

For Liberty,

--Tom

Tom Jenney
Arizona Director
Americans for Prosperity
(Arizona Federation of Taxpayers)
www.aztaxpayers.org
tjenney@afphq.org
(602) 478-0146