When U.S. Representative Kevin Brady first took his congressional seat in 1996, The Woodlands, Texas, had a little over 57,000 residents, Conroe and the South Montgomery County area had close to 290,000, and the 8th Congressional District boasted a booming economy. Notoriously called the “Dumbbell District,” not because of Brady, mind you, but for its unusual shape, this Texas district is now one of the fastest growing regions in America -- with some 650,000 residents.
But the district’s population isn’t the only thing that’s grown in the last several years. According to a recent post and report on Kevin Brady’s website, it seems that Brady’s nose may have elongated, also. On CNN, directly after the House passed The Affordable Health Care For America reform act, Brady,boldly stated, “Health care is too important to get wrong.”
Well, if you read Brady’s newsletter he has done just that -- and then some. Perhaps, the whole “Dumbbell” thing has rubbed off? Brady sarcastically said that, “Speaker ‘Pelosi’s takeover’ of health care will affect Texans in many ways.”
Yes, the bill will affect Texans in many ways, but it isn’t Pelosi’s takeover, nor was the bill penned by her hand. The bill, put in front of the House, was sponsored by Representatives John Dingell, Henry Waxman, Robert Andrews, George Miller, Frank Pallone, Charles Rangel and Fortney Stark, and multiple committees. Other than pounding the gavel and perhaps nudging the bill forward, where exactly does Pelosi come into the picture? From a Brady nose-to-the-grindstone perspective, isn’t that stretching things a bit?
With almost a brazen, South Dakotan-turned Texan drawl, if there is such a thing in the written form, Brady said the bill will increase insurance premiums by an estimated 15%. Of course, fake drawl or not, he won’t quote his source on this statistic, and naturally he stands corrected: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that premiums will actually
decrease under the bill, so much so that without the bill, the average annual premium for an individual would be $8,000 and for a family a whopping $24,000.
These are pretty stout figures when you consider that the average earnings in the 8th Congressional District are only $41,000.
Under the bill out-of-pocket expenses would be capped at only $5,000 for an individual and $10,000 for a family,
guaranteeing that no one will have to go bankrupt just because they get sick -- and not just in the 8th Congressional District, but in this great country of America.
But Brady insists otherwise,
“The bill drives up prescription drug costs for seniors by 20%, according to Medicare," he said. Medicare said no such thing. In fact, the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc., the Medicare Rights Center and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, after scrutinizing the numbers, wholeheartedly supported the bill which will exponentially lower prescription drug costs. It will protect consumers, hold insurance companies accountable, and rein in prescription costs. But since Brady voted “no” on overriding President Bush’s veto on the expansions of Medicare, which would have ensured that millions of seniors and disabled got the care they needed, we shouldn’t expect him to want our seniors to stay healthy while keeping their prescription costs’ down.
There are 117,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the 8th Congressional District alone. The health care reform legislation improves Medicare by providing free preventive and wellness care, improving primary and coordinated care, assisting nursing home quality, and strengthening the Medicare Trust Fund. It also takes into account the “donut” hole in prescription coverage.
Each year, 10,600 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation will provide these seniors with immediate relief, covering the first $500 of donut hole costs in 2010, cutting brand-name drug costs in the donut hole by 50%, and completely eliminating the donut hole by 2019.
Brady fails to mention all of this. He also failed to assist our uninsured children by voting “no” on expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and voting “no” on adding 2 to 4 million children to the SCHIP eligibility. He was too busy backing President Bush, who proclaimed, “Uninsured children can simply go to the emergency room to have their medical needs met.” Apparently Brady assumes that the children, disabled, and the seniors in our district can do the same? Especially when there were more than 500 health care-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the health care costs not covered by insurance. This reform bill would relieve the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers, taking our children, disabled and seniors into full account.
But why worry about this nonsense when the national deficit is the true issue?
“Even after throwing a trillion dollars at the problem, the Democrats’ plan still leaves 18 million people in America uninsured, that’s a population larger than the state of Florida. Here in Texas, the news is worse,” Brady said. Yes, the news is worse in Texas -- much worse.
It’s so bad that we lead the nation with the highest percentage of residents without health insurance. Almost one of every four Texas residents – 25.2 percent – are uninsured, at 6.1 million.
The new bill covers 96% of all Americans and it doesn’t add a dime to the deficit. Not one dime. This is especially important for Texas and the 8th Congressional District, where 22.5% are uninsured. By contrast, the bill offered by Republicans would leave
52 million Americans uninsured, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The fact is, the cost of health care reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and excessive profits for private insurers in Medicare and Medicaid and half through a surcharge on the income of the top 0.3% wealthiest individuals. This surcharge will affect only 1,080 households in the district. The surcharge will not affect 99.66% of taxpayers in the district.
Has Brady done the math or research? Perhaps not. He claims,
“An estimated 660,000 Texas seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage according to Medicare.”
Not true. And Medicare says no such thing. Exactly who at the Health and Human Services Department or Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is Brady speaking to?
In truth, the bill will strengthen and improve Medicare benefits for older Americans, helping to eliminate waste, fraud and inefficiency from Medicare. This also includes gross overpayments to private insurance companies providing Medicare Advantage plans, which do nothing to improve care for beneficiaries. -- a bill that Brady voted “yes” to. This waste is estimated to amount at 12 billion a year and $170 billion over the next ten years. In many Medicare Advantage plans, the government spends $3 for every $1 offered as benefits to seniors.
The Affordable Health Care for America reform bill does not eliminate Medicare Advantage plans – instead, it simply phases out the overpayments going to these plans. The Congressional Budget
Office projects that most private Medicare Advantage plans would continue to operate, once these overpayments are phased out.
Not that Brady mentioned it, but even the AARP jumped on this band wagon and said, “The changes actually aim to strengthen Medicare and improve beneficiaries’ care and access to physicians.”
The AARP is, of course, correct. The bill makes Medicare stronger by extending its solvency; enhancing medical record technology, so seniors won’t have to take the same test over and over; ensuring free preventative care and improving patient safety. All of this will be accomplished by developing national standards and rewarding doctors and nurses for high quality care.
From A to Z, just under 300 other organizations, like the AARP, approve of the Affordable Health Care For America reform bill. Just a few of these organizations are the AIDS Action Council, Alliance for Children and Families, American Academy of Health and Disability, American Cancer Society, American College of Physicians, American College of Surgeons, American Diabetes Association, American Federation of Teachers, American Heart Association, American Nurses Association, and the American Public Health Association. And that’s just starting with the letter A.
This long list goes on and on, but it isn’t anywhere nearly as long as Brady’s nose with regard to the bill.
When speaking about our brave veterans, the same combat veterans Brandy wouldn’t give a pay increase to, while they performed duty in Iraq -- he just said no. While discussing the needs of our seniors -- Brady’s NOs grew disproportionally. As if using a hanky to wipe away something vile, he brushed the seniors aside, by voting “no” to require negotiated prescription prices for Medicare part D. He also voted “no” on giving mental health full equity with physical health. Brady simply and nonchalantly said,
“All this new spending teeters precariously atop nearly insolvent Medicare and Social Security systems and underfunded veterans and military health care programs. Shouldn’t
solemn promises to our seniors and patriots be kept first?”
Good question. Darn good question. Here’s the answer: The bill, in actuality, would strengthen Medicare and extend its solvency -- not weaken it. It does not curtail benefits to veterans, service members, or their families; in fact, it provides them with more choice. The House-passed bill allows veterans receiving VA health care or service members and their families receiving TRICARE to also enroll in an insurance plan through the bill’s Health Insurance Exchange. The bill also strengthens and improves benefits to seniors in more ways than we can count.
Apparently the only thing Brady is counting on these days is the good old boys of the GOP. When promoting the 219 page GOP plan Brady said,
“Our plan is based on a reasoned, step-by-step approach to the complex issues of reform, focusing first on lowering health care costs, increasing coverage and rewarding Americans for preventative care.”
Actually the bill that passed by the House does this and so much more. The bill covers 96% of Americans, while the GOP plan leaves 52 million uninsured in 2019. It’s apparent the GOP’s defective plan does quite the opposite of the bill that passed.
Brady also added,
“The GOP plan lowers health care costs through lawsuit reform.”
Wrong. Dead wrong. Even ambulance chasers will tell you so.
It is a myth that “lawsuit reforms” reduce costs to consumers. Look no further than our state of Texas, where such reforms were passed in 2003. Malpractice insurance rates may have decreased, but those savings have not been passed on to Texas consumers, who saw costs increase a walloping 86.8% between 2000 and 2007, according to a 2008 study by the University of Alabama.
And speaking of other states, like Alabama, the GOP bill enables families to buy insurance across state lines and it, “would not have a substantial effect on the number of people who have health insurance coverage,” according to the CBO. It would promote a “race to the bottom” and effectively gut consumer protections that many states have in place. It would allow insurers to offer individual insurance on a nationwide basis under the laws and regulations of a state of their choice – allowing them to choose states with the laxest oversight offering fewest consumer protections. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners has rejected this proposal. Why hasn’t Brady?
As a zealous conservative, being a “yes man” for the GOP comes easy for Brady, but he openly jokes that the GOP has been tagged otherwise,
“The GOP has been labeled the ‘Party of No’. Maybe it’s true. The Republican alternative contains no tax increases, no Medicare cuts, no rationing, no mandates, no deficit spending and no huge intrusion of government into your most intimate health care decisions,” he said.
This is no laughing matter, since the GOP plan also represents absolutely no progress. Again, according to the CBO, the GOP plan would leave 52 million Americans uninsured. This doesn’t exactly make good politics and throws bragging rights, right out of the window. And sure, under the GOP plan the insurance companies could still discriminate on the basis of a preexisting condition such as cancer, AIDS, pregnancy, C-section, domestic violence, rape, and infantile obesity, which they’re already doing. The GOP plan openly ensures that insurance companies would still enjoy the antitrust exemption -- allowing them to monopolize insurance markets and price gouge. You bet it’s a good plan -- if you want absolutely no progress, no change and expect no -- none, zip, absolutely zero assistance to the millions of uninsured Americans, the vast majority of them children.
You certainly can’t call it reform if nothing changes, but Brady still contends,
“Speaker Pelosi's takeover of health care is estimated to cost $1.3 trillion and is financed through job- killing taxes. The GOP health care plan will reduce health care premiums by up to 10% and lower federal budget deficits by $68 billion over the next ten years.”
Nope. According to the CBO, under the bill passed by the House, 98.8% of small businesses would be unaffected by the surcharge; 99.7% of all households would be unaffected by the surcharge and the deficit would be reduced by $104 billion over the next ten years.
The fact is, the health care reform bill is a deficit neutral plan that ultimately brings health care costs down, reducing the burden on our families, assisting the economy, building on principles that already work and fixing those that are broken. It allows all Americans the right to keep their current health insurance and choose their health care providers while expanding coverage to the millions without it.
With America having the most expensive health care system in the world, is it a wonder why our President is committed to passing health care reform this year? It’s a shame that U.S. Representative Kevin Brady isn’t. Perhaps that elongated nose of his needs to be poking into the facts, instead of manufacturing fiction. And contrary to cute tags and silly sentiments, the Democrats of the 8th Congressional District of Texas don’t believe we’re a “Dumbbell District” at all.
Sheryl-Lyn Warren and Austin Stout are active members of the Montgomery County Democratic Party.
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