Most House members in region voted for historic health bill

STAFF REPORT

WASHINGTON — Of the four members of Congress from the Mahoning and Shenango valleys — all Democrats — three voted for the health-care reform bill and one against it.

U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan, D-17th of Niles, Charlie Wilson, D-6th of St. Clairsville and Kathy Dahlkemper, D-3rd of Erie, voted for the plan.

Rep. Jason Altmire, D-4th of McCandless, voted against it.

Ryan said in a press release that plant closings, personal hardships and medical problems have caused tens of thousands of 17th District families to lose their health care.

“But now, finally, we have passed a critical milestone toward universal, affordable health care for all Americans,” he said.

“This reform should have happened thirty years ago, but I am proud to support it today. The Affordable Health Care for America Act will require legal residents of the United States to have health insurance, so they do not show up at the emergency room without insurance, resulting in taxpayers getting stuck with their medical bill,” he said.

If enacted into law, the measure would do the following in the 17th District alone, Ryan said:

Improve Employer-Base Coverage for 355,000 Residents; provide credits to help pay for coverage for up to 180,000 households; improve Medicare for 109,000 beneficiaries, including closing the prescription drug “Donut Hole” for 9,100 senior citizens; allow 14,000 small businesses to obtain affordable health care coverage and provide tax credits to help reduce health insurance costs for up to 12,300 small businesses; provide coverage for 43,000 uninsured residents; protect up to 1,700 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs; and reduce the cost of uncompensated care hospitals and health care providers by $20 million.

Wilson said he voted for the legislation because it brought stability and security to the health care system, lowered the cost of health care, and insured broader coverage, without increasing our deficit.

“After months of deliberation, with these conditions met, I proudly cast my vote for the Affordable Health Care for America Act,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee included Dahlkemper in a list of Congress members it said risks being ostracized for voting for the bill after signing a letter to Nancy Pelosi in July expressing concern about several aspects of it, including its cost. Part of her district includes a portion of Mercer County.

On her Web site, Dahlkemper said the legislation “reduces the federal deficit through effective cost-saving measures and healthy competition for insurance companies.”

She added, “This legislation also reaches an important goal I have long advocated for health care reform: it includes measures to help prevent chronic disease and promote healthy living. The Affordable Health Care for America Act includes robust prevention and wellness provisions to improve the actual health of Americans,” she said.

Altmire also signed the letter in July but followed through with a no vote on the health care bill. He represents Lawrence County.

“As I said following the initial committee vote in July, I voted against the House’s health care reform bill in the Education and Labor Committee because it failed to effectively rein in rising health care costs; it was punitive toward small businesses; and it paid for reform by raising taxes, rather than by squeezing the inefficiencies out of and modernizing our health care system.

“After months of negotiation, I believe that the bill we voted on today contained some improvements in each of these three areas, although these improvements were not sufficient for me to be able to vote for the bill. In particular, I remain concerned that the House’s health care reform bill still fails to make our health care system more cost-efficient. Until we rein in skyrocketing health care costs, we will simply be perpetuating an inefficient system that is unsustainable over time.”

Altmire said he believes America does need “common-sense health care reform” and pledged to work to create a bill that will reduce health care costs for American families and small businesses and build a payment structure that better incentivizes efficiency.