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November 23, 2009

Isakson votes no on moving forward with health care bill

Submitted by Sen. Isakson's office

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., Saturday night voted “no” on moving forward with a $2.5 trillion Democratic health care bill that will raise taxes, raise premiums, cut benefits for seniors and place a massive unfunded mandate on the states.

Isakson voiced disappointment that the Senate voted 60 to 39 to allow the Democratic leader to move forward with his 2,074-page bill. The health care debate will resume in the Senate on Nov. 30 after the Thanksgiving break.

“This bill is bad for Georgia, bad for families and small businesses, bad for our seniors and bad for America. We should scrap it and start over,” Isakson said. “This disastrous bill would raise taxes, raise premiums and drive millions of Americans to a public option where there is no option.”

After several weeks of drafting the bill behind closed doors, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., unveiled a 2,074-page bill on Nov. 18 that would push millions of Americans into government-run health care. Once fully implemented in 2014, the proposal would cost an estimated $2.5 trillion over 10 years.

The legislation also includes $493.6 billion in tax increases and $464.6 billion in Medicare cuts for seniors. In addition, the bill would impose $28 billion in new taxes on employers who do not provide government-approved health plans. Isakson believes these new taxes would ultimately result in reduced wages and lost jobs.

Despite the $2.5 trillion cost, an estimated 24 million Americans would still be left without health insurance and 5 million people would lose their employer coverage under the Democrats’ proposal.

At a time when most states are already under tremendous budgetary stress due to the economy, Isakson also criticized the billions of dollars in massive unfunded mandates that states would have to pay to cover the cost of the proposed expansion of Medicaid contained in the bill.

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