Tiberi: Health care bill has many flaws
Tiberi: Health care bill has many flaws NEWARK -- Rep. Pat Tiberi acknowledged the country needs health-care reform, but said Friday the House bill backed by Democrats does not solve the problems. Tiberi, R-Westerville, said the bill will drive up health-care costs, increase the country's deficit, create a single-payer system and put too much authority in the hands of newly appointed bureaucrats. The five-term congressman, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, discussed his health-care concerns in a Friday visit to The Advocate. He represents Ohio's 12th District, which includes western and northern Licking County. President Barack Obama wants to rush the bill through Congress, Tiberi said, but the plan has too many holes in it. More than 50 Republican amendments were defeated in the committee, he said. "He took more time to pick his dog than we're taking on health care," Tiberi said. The congressman said Republicans do want to improve health care but not the way Obama and the Democrats propose. "It's still a problem if we do nothing," Tiberi said. "Doing nothing is not an option. If we don't do anything, the costs continue to go up." The Democratic solution, though, eventually will have everyone on the public plan, contrary to Democratic claims, he said. The plan, he said, requires every employer to offer health care. "The incentives in the bill will cause employers to put employees in the public plan," Tiberi said. "If I can dump employees into the public plan and pay an 8 percent penalty, businesses are going to dump employees into the public plan." Small-business owners, Tiberi said, either will lay off their part-time employees or use contract workers to fill the part-time positions, avoiding the requirement to provide health care. "The incentives are backwards in trying to create jobs," Tiberi said. The bill states businesses must submit their plans to a health-care choice commissioner, appointed by the president, who determines if it is "sufficient," Tiberi said. "The public option is a deal killer for the Democrats," he said. "It creates a commission that's the umpire and the manager of the other team." Eliminating the public option is not the total solution to the bill, which he said remains far too costly. Asked if he'd support the bill with the public option deleted, Tiberi responded: "If we fix some of the other things in here. I wouldn't support it if it creates a $239 billion deficit." The congressman said the increased taxes to pay for the program begin in 2011, but the benefits don't start until 2013. The plan creates a $239 billion deficit after 10 years of taxes and eight years of benefits, he said. Tiberi said Republicans did not do enough on health care during the last eight years, but House Republicans proposed health-related bills on health savings accounts, medical liability reform and associate health plans that stalled in the Senate. One bill the House approved allowed smaller entities to band together and self insure, reducing health-care costs with larger numbers of participants. The proposals did not pass in the Senate. "As Republicans, we controlled everything and we failed," he said. "We certainly didn't do as much as we should have gotten done." Additional Facts QUOTABLE · "The speaker completely ignores Republicans. We're non-existent." · "When you lose your job, you shouldn't lose your health care. Health care should be portable." · "Let's focus on the uninsured and get them insurance." · "There are 6-8 million 19- to 27-year-olds who don't have health insurance. We should allow them to be on their parents' policy." 
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