Hoosier Politicos React to SCOTUS Decision
Indiana politicos are reacting to Thursday’s Supreme Court decision upholding the President’s health care plan.
Joe Donnelly, Democratic Candidate for the U.S. Senate
- “Hoosiers will be pleased to learn that many positive aspects of this law, such as lower prescription drug costs for seniors, making sure people cannot be dropped by insurance companies if they get sick, and making healthcare more affordable and accessible, remain law. Yet this law is far from perfect, and I will work with both parties to improve it and protect Medicare.Richard Mourdock’s only unique contribution to the debate on lowering healthcare costs has been to suggest that employers could choose not to offer cancer treatment coverage to their employees. He holds a ‘my way or the highway’ approach, has questioned the constitutionality of Medicare, and supports over $200 billion in Medicare cuts. Mourdock’s TEA Party thinking won’t solve problems or improve healthcare.”
Richard Mourdock, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate
- “I am disappointed in the Court’s ruling today that ObamaCare can stand as a massive tax on Americans. ObamaCare will add trillions to our national debt, deter future job growth, and force thousands of individuals out of their existing health care coverage. The choice in the upcoming election couldn’t be clearer. Congressman Joe Donnelly voted to pass ObamaCare and continues to support it. I will vote to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with real reforms that put patients and doctors in charge, create more choices for consumers and actually drive down the cost of health care,”
U.S. Senator Richard Lugar
- “I continue to support full repeal of the massively expensive ObamaCare law. The reality is ObamaCare has presented additional burdens to small businesses and levies new taxes that will hit American families and job creators in the years to come. The law also fails to keep the President’s promise to let Americans keep the coverage they already have and enjoy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that 3 to 5 million Americans, and perhaps many more, will lose their employer-sponsored coverage as a result of ObamaCare.
U.S. Senator Dan Coats
-
“The president’s health care law remains an unpopular, massive intrusion of the federal government into the individual lives of Americans. The Supreme Court’s decision today confirms that President Obama broke his promise to Americans that his law would not raise taxes on the middle class. Obamacare has made the nation’s health care system worse, not better. Hoosier families and businesses will be faced with higher taxes, increased costs and burdensome mandates under this law. The work to reform our health care system is far from over. I am committed to working with my colleagues to repeal the president’s health care law and give Hoosiers – not Washington – the power to make their own health care decisions. The American people will have the opportunity to decide if they want a Congress and White House committed to more taxing, more spending and more federal mandates or one that will work to reduce spending, empower individuals and give states greater flexibility.”
Indiana Congressman Todd Young - 9 CD
- Because of the negative effect on our economy and job creation, I’m disappointed that the so-called individual mandate requiring every American to purchase health insurance will stand. However, I am pleased that the Court has affirmed that our federal government is constitutionally limited in its ability to regulate Americans’ lives. Despite the Court’s decision, there still is hope for those of us who regard this law as bad public policy. The 2010 law most Americans know as Obamacare remains unpopular with a large majority of Hoosiers who demand the law be repealed or improved. While it’s true that rapidly rising health care costs should be dealt with, Obamacare fails to control them and interferes with the doctor-patient relationship. During this Congress, I have already cast 30 votes to repeal, replace or defund all or parts of the law. Moving forward, I will continue to support implementing policies to allow health insurance to be purchased across state lines; to improve our costly medical malpractice system; to make health savings accounts and flexible spending accounts more prevalent; and a number of other proposals that will lower costs and increase access to care without adding to the federal bureaucracy.”
Indiana Congressman Todd Rokita - 4CD
- “Constitutionality should not be mistaken for good public policy. Although the Supreme Court today ruled that ObamaCare is constitutional, that does not change the fact that it will drive up the cost of health care, add to our already exploding debt and hurt job creation, including within our vibrant medical device manufacturing sector. “Standing outside the Supreme Court in our Nation’s Capitol today as the ruling was handed down I was reminded of the passion this legislation has ignited among an overwhelming and consistent majority of Hoosiers who have rejected ObamaCare from the very start. “The stakes are too high. Our economy, our future, depends on us electing Mitt Romney this November.”
Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma
- “This is certainly not the direction I had hoped the Supreme Court would take on this most critical issue. Most Americans, and an overwhelming majority of Hoosiers, do not support this overreaching, overwhelming federally mandated approach to the nation’s healthcare challenges. To say that it will have a negative impact on Indiana small businesses, Hoosier families and our state’s currently exceptional fiscal position may qualify as the understatement of the year. While we cannot accurately estimate the fiscal impact on Indiana today, it is clear that Washington D.C. is completely out of touch with Hoosiers. Indiana will now be placed in the position of helping to foot the bill for burdensome D.C. mandates that our citizens oppose.”
Susan Brooks, Republican candidate 5th CD
- “Like far too many Americans, I am disappointed that the Supreme Court upheld the mandate provision of the Affordable Care Act today. From its inception, the Act was ill-conceived and rammed through Congress in a heavy-handed process by President Obama and a Democrat-controlled Congress, entirely without consensus and effectively against the will of a majority of the American people. The end result is disastrous for patients, doctors, job creators, state governments and taxpayers.It will fundamentally weaken the most advanced health care system in the world with severe consequences to those who rely on it. The majority opinion today affirmed the Constitutional right of this President and his Democrat colleagues to expand the size and reach of the federal government to nearly unfathomable levels, reasserting the government’s limitless power to tax citizens and businesses to fund a bad idea. Our founding fathers would be as disappointed as I am. The only alternative for Americans who disagree with this unprecedented expansion of government is supporting Republicans at the ballot box in November who will work hard to repeal it and replace it.”
- “Like many Hoosiers, I respect the court but strongly disagree with this decision. I will work to completely repeal this harmful law. I think the law’s government control board, the Independent Payment Advisory Board, gives unelected bureaucrats far too much power. This is the largest tax hike in American history and will only harm families and small businesses during the weakest recovery since the Great Depression. My colleagues and I in the House will vote to repeal the entirety of the President’s regulatory nightmare and then offer patient-centered solutions in the full light of day. Our Founding Fathers created a system that allows the American people, acting through their representatives in Congress, to set this right.”
-
I am disappointed but respectful of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to uphold this near government takeover of our health care system that negatively impacts one sixth of our nation’s economy. Further, the Supreme Court confirming the Obama administration’s argument that the individual mandate is a tax violates the promise President Obama made to the American people. Obamacare is a massive tax increase on the middle class both directly and indirectly through higher taxes on employers. Obamacare is bad for all Hoosiers and will continue to be a major impediment to job creation and getting people back to work. Along with a sluggish economy, these are the major issues affecting our country. I will continue to work to repeal this law in its entirety and implement market-based solutions that focus on lowering costs while maintaining access to the highest quality of care.”
- Today, I join with a majority of fellow Americans who have a sense of loss and disappointment in the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold President Obama’s plan for big government socialized health care. This sweeping, oppressive new tax on middle income earners does nothing to reduce health care costs, eliminate waste, improve quality of care, or protect Senior Citizens and the low income uninsured. Instead, Obamacare serves only to further bloat the size of federal bureaucracy, add trillions of dollars to the national debt, increase taxes we pay, mandate burdensome regulations on small business, and infringe upon individual rights. Even worse, Obamacare requirements continue to cripple job growth and place our fragile economy in more peril. When elected to represent Indiana’s 1st Congressional District in the US House of Representatives, I will work to repeal the overreaching taxation of Obamacare for which career politician Pete Visclosky voted to approve. I will work immediately to replace it with real health care reform based on free market, free choice solutions that restore our personal decision making power and reduce the costs of our family’s care.”
- More reaction will added later in the day.
