While committee Republicans can be expected to blame premium increases and changes to provider networks on Obamacare, the truth is that health care costs and premiums were rising dramatically for years prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Between 2000 and 2009, every Republican committee member saw premiums in his or her home state rise at a rate that far outpaced wages, with insurers sometimes spiking plans’ costs by as much as 50 percent in a single year.

Yet instead of supporting the health care law’s protections against insurance industry abuses – including the provision that requires insurers to spend at least 80 percent of premiums on actual medical care – congressional Republicans have pursued a extreme deregulatory agenda. In addition to their dozens of attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the party has pushed to allow insurance sales across state lines, tried to exempt certain types of plans from state oversight, and even signed onto alternative plans that don’t include the prohibition against pre-existing condition discrimination. Incidentally, congressional Republicans – including many of Oversight Committee members participating in today’s hearing – have received tens of thousands of dollars from top health care industry PACs.

To make matters worse, the majority’s witness list is full of conservative operatives and anti-health care reform crusaders, including a Romney campaign adviser and the author of an ALEC model bill. The GOP’s mission to destroy health care reform and replace it with a “free-market” alternative that lets insurance companies run wild suggests the Oversight Committee’s hearing is likely to be little more than another excuse to publicize extreme anti-Obamacare GOP talking points as we roll towards the 2014 elections.

Before Obamacare, Insurance Premiums Routinely Spiked Dramatically Across The Nation – Including In GOP Oversight Members’ States

Health Care Premiums And Costs Have Been Rising For Years

Between 2001-2008, The Average Employee Family Health Care Premium “Nearly Doubled,” But Incomes Came “Nowhere Close To Keeping Up.” According to the New York Times, “Since the recession of 2001, the employee’s average cost of an annual health care premium for family coverage has nearly doubled — to $3,300, up from $1,800 — while incomes have come nowhere close to keeping up.” [New York Times, 5/4/2008]

• Average Health Insurance Premiums More Than Doubled Between 1999 and 2008. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust’s 2008 survey of employer health benefits, “Since 1999, average premiums for family coverage have increased 119%.” [Kaiser Family Foundation, 2008]

In 2004, Employer-Sponsored Premiums Rose 11.2 Percent, Pushing The Cost Of The Most Common Family Plan “Past $10,000.” According to the Washington Post, “Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums rose 11.2 percent this year, registering the fourth consecutive double-digit annual increase and pushing the cost of family coverage under the most common type of plan past $10,000, according to a new nationwide survey.” [Washington Post, 9/10/04]

• Kaiser Family Foundation President: 2004 Premium Rise Was Five Times The Rate Of Inflation. According to the Washington Post, “While this year’s rise was down slightly from the 13.9 percent of last year, it is still ‘five times the rate of growth in wages [and of] inflation,’ said Drew E. Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which released the survey of more than 3,000 employers yesterday, along with the Health Research and Educational Trust. Its findings and those of other surveys predict continuing growth of health care costs next year.” [Washington Post, 9/10/04]
• 2004: Aetna Executive: More Workers “Are Not Taking Up Insurance Because They Can’t Afford It.” According to the Washington Post, “Jack Rowe, chief executive of Aetna, said in an interview yesterday that the findings might, if anything, understate the seriousness of the problem. He noted that the ‘take-up rate’ — the share of workers who sign up for health insurance when it is offered — has declined significantly recently, suggesting that an increasing number of people ‘are not taking up insurance because they can’t afford it.’” [Washington Post, 9/10/04]

By 2007, Families Were Already Spending More Disposable Income On Health Care Than On Food, Housing, Or Clothing – And The Proportion Was Rising. The following graph from the New York Times shows the rising proportion of disposable income spent on health care versus food, housing, and clothing.

[New York Times, 5/4/08]

• Deloitte In 2008: Taking Into Account Both Premiums And Out-Of-Pocket Costs, Close To One-Fifth Of The Average Household’s Spending Went To Health Care. According to the New York Times, “Factor in other out-of-pocket medical costs, and the portion of the average American household’s income that goes toward health care has risen about 12 percent, according to the consulting and accounting firm Deloitte, and is now approaching one-fifth of the average household’s spending.” [New York Times, 5/4/2008]

NYT In 2008: “Many Of The 158 Million People Covered By Employer Health Insurance Are Struggling To Meet Medical Expenses That Are Much Higher Than They Used To Be.” According to the New York Times, “Many of the 158 million people covered by employer health insurance are struggling to meet medical expenses that are much higher than they used to be — often because of some combination of higher premiums, less extensive coverage, and bigger out-of-pocket deductibles and co-payments.” [New York Times, 5/4/2008]

California – Rep. Darrell Issa (CA-49)

Report: In California, Family Health Insurance Premiums Rose By An Average Of 109.2 Percent Between 2000 And 2009 – 4.3 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for California’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for California’s workers rose 4.3 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 109.2 percent, while median earnings rose by only 25.5 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, September 2009]

Between 2000 And 2004, Health Insurance Premiums “Increased 61% In California, Far Outstripping The Growth Of Inflation.” According to the Los Angeles Times, “California’s insurance commissioner plans to issue a report today criticizing health savings accounts and other ‘consumer-driven’ insurance plans as part of the problem of spiraling costs — not the solution. […] From 2000 to 2004, healthcare insurance premiums increased 61% in California, far outstripping the growth of inflation, Garamendi’s report concluded. Premium increases in California have outpaced those in the rest of the country for each of the last three years.” [Los Angeles Times via LexisNexis, 8/5/05]

2009: Anthem Blue Cross Raised Individual Health Insurance Premiums For Roughly 640,000 Californians – Some By More Than 30 Percent. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Anthem Blue Cross, which plans to raise premiums for about four-fifths of the health insurer’s individual policyholders effective March 1, has outraged members, many of whom have been hit with price increases of more than 30 percent. […] Anthem Blue Cross, formerly Blue Cross of California, covers about 800,000 individual policyholders in California, more individual members than any other insurer in the state. Individual policies are typically purchased by people who do not have access to a group policy through an employer. Anthem officials confirmed the company will raise rates March 1 for about 80 percent of its individual members.” [San Francisco Chronicle via LexisNexis, 2/11/09]

Michigan – Rep. Tim Walberg (MI-7), Rep. Justin Amash (MI-3), Rep. Kerry Bentivolio (MI-11)

Report: Between 2000 And 2009, Family Health Insurance Premiums Increased By An Average Of 76.5 Percent For Michigan Workers – 12.9 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Michigan’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Michigan’s workers rose 12.9 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 76.5 percent, while median earnings rose by only 5.9 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, September 2009]

2009: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Michigan Raised Individual Insurance Premiums By Over 40 Percent For Some Insurance Holders, With An Average Increase Of 22 Percent. According to the Ann Arbor News, “Some small startup businesses and independent contractors face pending insurance hikes of over 40 percent in the wake of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s decision to raise premiums on its individual insurance plans. The Detroit-based nonprofit recently sent out letters to affected customers outlining the increases, which average 22 percent effective Oct. 1. Blue Cross has said the rate hikes were unavoidable after losing $133 million last year on individual subscribers and lobbying unsuccessfully for legislative remedies in Lansing. The rising premiums primarily are hitting workers who lack employer-provided insurance coverage. But they’re leaving some workers, whose pre-existing conditions bar them from obtaining coverage through a private, for-profit insurer, with few alternatives.” [Ann Arbor News, 9/10/09]

Washington – Rep. Doc Hastings (WA-04)

In Washington, Family Health Care Premiums Rose By An Average Of 113.3 Percent From 2000 Through 2009 – 5.3 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Washington’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Washington’s workers rose 5.3 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 113.3 percent, while median earnings rose by only 21.6 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, September 2009]

2007: Regence BlueShield Health Insurance Premiums Increased By 40 Percent For 16,000 Individual-Plan Enrollees. According to the Seattle Times, “Regence BlueShield on Tuesday began notifying 137,000 individual-plan customers that their premiums are rising an average of 19 percent in July in the steepest increase for individual plans this year by a Washington health insurer. And for 16,000 of those enrollees, the rate increase will total 40 percent because they also happen to be moving into an older, more expensive age group.” [Seattle Times, 5/16/07]

2008: Premera LifeWise Health Plan Of Washington Increased Insurance Premiums By 22.5 Percent After A 12 Percent Rate Increase The Year Before. According to the Seattle Post Intelligencer, “Individual insurance policyholders with Premera LifeWise Health Plan of Washington will have a 22.5 percent rate increase beginning Jan. 1, company officials announced Thursday, blaming rising medical care costs. Notifications are being sent to LifeWise’s nearly 90,000 members this week. They also experienced a 12 percent rate increase in January.” [Seattle Post Intelligencer, 11/1/07]

Florida – Rep. John L. Mica (FL-07), Rep. Ron DeSantis (FL-06)

Report: Between 2000 And 2009, Health Insurance Premiums Increased By An Average Of 98.1 Percent For Florida Families – 3.7 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Florida’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Florida’s workers rose 3.7 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 98.1 percent, while median earnings rose by only 26.7 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, August 2009]

2008: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Florida Raised Individual Insurance Premiums By 25 Percent For Women With C-Section History Who Wanted Cesarean Coverage. According to the New York Times, “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, which has about 300,000 members with individual coverage, used to exclude repeat Caesareans, but recently began to cover them — for a 25 percent increase in premiums for five years. Like Golden Rule, the company exempts women if they have been sterilized. ‘After five years, if there is not a complication of pregnancy, another C-section, or if they get their tubes tied and are no longer in that risk situation, that rate-up goes away,’ said Randy M. Kammer, the vice president for regulatory affairs and public policy.” [New York Times, 6/1/08]

Pennsylvania – Rep. Pat Meehan (PA-7)

Report: Between 2000 And 2009, Family Health Insurance Premiums Rose By An Average Of 95.2 Percent For Working Pennsylvanians – 5.4 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Pennsylvania’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Pennsylvania’s workers rose 5.4 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 95.2 percent, while median earnings rose by only 17.5 percent.”  [FamiliesUSA2.org, August 2009]

2005: Some Small Businesses In The Philadelphia Area Saw Health Insurance Premiums Increase By As Much As 50 Percent. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, “For example, health insurance for the City of Philadelphia-administered plan, which covers 8,000 people, rose 4.5 percent for 2006, said Michael F. Carter, a benefits consultant with the Hay Group. […] Some small companies experienced rate increases of as much as 50 percent in 2005 as Independence Blue Cross – the Philadelphia region’s largest health insurer – began to take the age of subscribers into account in determining its premiums, Carter said.” [Philadelphia Inquirer via LexisNexis, 11/21/05]

North Carolina – Rep. Mark Meadows (NC-11), Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (NC-10)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums In North Carolina Increased By An Average Of 96.8 Percent Between 2000 And 2009 – 5.3 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for North Carolina’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for North Carolina’s workers rose 5.3 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 96.8 percent, while median earnings rose by only 18.4 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, August 2009]

2009: North Carolina Small Businesses Saw Health Insurance Premium Increases Of 40 To 300 Percent Above The Previous Year. According to the Associated Press, “Less than half of the state’s small companies are able to afford health insurance coverage for their workers, said Gregg Thompson, state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, a trade group that represents about 7,500 small-business owners. That’s down from about six in 10 North Carolina firms with fewer than 50 workers in 2006, according to the North Carolina Institute of Medicine. Small companies that continued coverage this year were hit with premiums that were 40 percent to 300 percent higher than last year, Thompson said. […] One example of the hard choices for small business is Charlotte Post Publishing Co., which publishes newspapers in Charlotte and the Triangle that focus on black communities. Premiums for the 15-employee operation rose 24 percent last year, leaving publisher Gerald Johnson facing a dilemma.” [Associated Press via LexisNexis, 4/6/09]

Ohio – Rep. Michael Turner (OH-03), Rep. Jim Jordan (OH-04)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums In Ohio Increased By An Average Of 84.1 Percent From 2000 Through 2009 – 7.2 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Ohio’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Ohio’s workers rose 7.2 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 84.1 percent, while median earnings rose by only 11.7 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, September 2009]

Cincinnati Enquirer: In 2003, 47 Percent Of Cincinnati Legal Aid Society Clients Cited Health Care Bills As Reason For Filing For Bankruptcy. According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, “‘Five years ago, we didn’t see health care raised as an issue much at all. But now, we’re seeing people in low-wage jobs where the employer won’t offer health insurance or the worker is opting out because they can’t afford the premiums,’ said Trey Daly, a senior attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati. Now, 47 percent of Legal Aid clients cite health care bills as a key reason for seeking bankruptcy protection. The average debt reported exceeds $5,000, according to an access project report issued earlier this year. What worries Daly is that employers are shifting costs to workers and cutting coverage at the same time Ohio and many other states are facing budget crunches.” [Cincinnati Enquirer via LexisNexis, 1/5/03]

Utah – Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT-03)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums Went Up By An Average Of 98.7 Percent In Utah Between 2000 And 2009 – 4.3 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Utah’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Utah’s workers rose 4.3 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 98.7 percent, while median earnings rose by only 22.8 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, August 2009]

In 2009, Regence BlueCross BlueShield Raised Premiums For Small Businesses By An Average Of 9.2 Percent After Making A Similar Rate Increase The Previous Year. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, “In Utah, Regence BlueCross BlueShield raised its 2009 premiums for small businesses by an average of 9.2 percent, about the same as the previous year. Spokesman Mike Tatko said Regence hasn’t seen much change in the posturing that the state’s No. 2 insurance company and its clients adopt during negotiations.” [Salt Lake Tribune via LexisNexis, 12/4/09]

Tennessee – Rep. John J. Duncan (TN-02), Rep. Scott DesJarlais (TN-4)

Report: Tennessee Families’ Insurance Premiums Rose By An Average Of 99.6 Percent Between 2000 And 2009 – 6.3 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Tennessee’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Tennessee’s workers rose 6.3 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 99.6 percent, while median earnings rose by only 15.9 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, September 2009]

Tennessee Had The Fourth-Largest Premium Growth In The Country Between 2000 And 2006. According to the Knoxville News-Sentinel, “Health-care premiums rose more than eight times faster than Tennessee wages over the last six years, according to a report released Tuesday from Families USA. The consumer health organization found that premiums for families rose by almost 99 percent, or $6,465, in Tennessee from 2000 to 2006. Median earnings rose by 12 percent, or $2,739. ‘This means health insurance is taking a huge, increasing bite out of available income for working families in Tennessee,’ said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. Tennessee had the fourth-largest premium growth in the country, behind South Carolina, Michigan and Ohio. The states exceeded the national rate of 6.4 times earnings.” [Knoxville News-Sentinel via LexisNexis, 10/25/06]

2004: HMO Premiums Rose By An Average Of 17 Percent In Tennessee. According to the Tennessean, “Preliminary information from the human resources consulting firm Hewitt Associates shows that HMOs will raise premiums an average of almost 12 percent in the coming year. That’s just for tightly controlled health-maintenance organizations. PPOs and other health plans usually see slightly larger increases, according to Paul Harris, senior health-care strategist with the firm. Over the past several years, the rate of increase has been slowing, Harris said. HMO premiums rose an average of nearly 17 percent in 2004. But ‘double-digit increases are still very difficult for employers to absorb,’ Harris said. As a result, companies will probably ask employees to pay more of the cost of their medical care in the form of larger deductibles and higher co-payments, he said.” [Tennessean via LexisNexis, 7/5/06]

Wyoming – Rep. Cynthia Lummis (WY)

Report: Between 2000 And 2009, Family Health Insurance Premiums Rose By An Average Of 141.5 Percent In Wyoming – 3.8 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Wyoming’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Wyoming’s workers rose 3.8 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 141.5 percent, while median earnings rose by only 37.4 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, August 2009]

2002: Wyoming Was Among States Where HMO Premiums Rose An Average Of 19 Percent. According to the Denver Post, “HMOs will log a third year of double-digit price increases in 2003, and the bill will go to employees. ‘You personally will be paying more,’ said Steve Cigich, who is surveying health maintenance organizations for Seattle-based employee benefits consultant Milliman USA. Employers will pass these price increases to their workers in the form of higher monthly premiums and bigger out-of-pocket co-payments for prescription drugs, hospital stays and visits to doctors’ offices, Cigich predicted. Premiums will rise an average of 19 percent in several regions of the country, including the Mountain states, according to preliminary results of the Milliman USA survey. That’s the highest price increase nationally and the biggest jump in health insurance prices since Milliman began tracking HMO premiums 11 years ago. Nationally, premiums will rise an average 17 percent, according to the survey. […] Health insurance prices are rising faster in Colorado and other Western states – Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New  Mexico, Utah and Wyoming – mainly because doctors and hospitals  are increasing the rates they charge HMOs to treat plan members, said Cigich.” [Denver Post via LexisNexis, 7/2/02]

Georgia – Rep. Doug Collins (GA-09), Rep. Rob Woodall (GA-07)

Report: Health Insurance Premiums For Georgian Families Rose By 86.7 Percent Between 2000 And 2009 – 6.4 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Georgia’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Georgia’s workers rose 6.4 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 86.7 percent, while median earnings rose by only 13.6 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, September 2009]

2005: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Georgia’s Premium Increases Sparked A State Investigation After Some Individual Policy Holders Saw A 100 Percent Increase, With An Average Jump Of 36 Percent. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “[State Insurance Commissioner John] Oxendine also said his agency is investigating Blue Cross’ increases in health insurance premiums for individuals. Blue Cross raised premiums for its 2005 individual health policies by an average of 36 percent, with some getting 100 percent increases, he said.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution via LexisNexis, 12/9/05]

2005: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of Georgia Was Fined $100,000 By The State For Offering Cheaper Insurance Options To Some Policy Holders, But Not All. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Georgia’s largest health insurer has drawn a $100,000 state fine for offering cheaper insurance options to some policyholders but not others. State Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine, who levied the fine, said Thursday that Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia must give 33,000 individual policyholders the same choices that others received. […] Oxendine said Blue Cross gave the choice of two cheaper but more restrictive health plans to individuals facing policy renewals in the first half of the year. Those renewing later in the year didn’t get those cheaper alternatives, he said. […] Blue Cross agreed to pay the fine but admitted no wrongdoing.” [Atlanta Journal-Constitution via LexisNexis, 12/9/05]

Kentucky – Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-04)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums In Kentucky Increased By 72.4 Percent From 2000 Through 2009 – 3.3 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Kentucky’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Kentucky’s workers rose 3.3 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 72.4 percent, while median earnings rose by only 22.2 percent.” [FamiliesUSA2.org, September 2009]

Oklahoma – Rep. James Lankford (OK-5)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums In Oklahoma Increased By 69.4 Percent From 2000 Through 2009 – 2.8 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Oklahoma’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Oklahoma’s workers rose 2.8 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 69.4 percent, while median earnings rose by only 25.0 percent.” [Families USA, September 2009]

From 2001 To 2005 “Oklahoma Registered The Largest Increase In Health Insurance Costs Among The 50 States.” According to the Oklahoman, “Oklahoma registered the largest increase in health insurance costs among the 50 states during the four-year period, according to the report issued Tuesday by the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation in conjunction with ‘Cover the Uninsured Week.’” [Oklahoman, 4/30/08]

• From 2001 To 2005 The Average Cost Of Oklahoma Families’ Insurance Premiums Jumped 50 Percent. According to the Oklahoman, “The average cost of Oklahoma families’ insurance premiums jumped 50 percent from 2001 to 2005, while those families’ median income rose just 5 percent over the same period.” [Oklahoman, 4/30/08]
• Oklahoma Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland: “If It’s A Race To The Bottom, We’re Winning, I’m Afraid.” According to the Oklahoman, “‘If it’s a race to the bottom, we’re winning, I’m afraid,’ state Insurance Commissioner Kim Holland said. Holland said the figures are an outgrowth of Oklahoma’s longstanding high number of residents who have no medical insurance and the state’s relatively low median income.” [Oklahoman, 4/30/08]

Arizona – Rep. Paul Gosar (AZ-1)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums In Arizona Increased By 93.1 Percent From 2000 Through 2009 – 3 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Arizona’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Arizona’s workers rose 3.0 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 93.1 percent, while median earnings rose by only 30.8 percent, while median earnings rose by only 28.4 percent.” [Families USA, September 2009]

• Workers’ Premium Costs For Employer-Based Coverage More Than Doubled For Both Families and Individuals In Arizona From 2000-2009. According to Families USA, “During this 10-year period, premium costs borne by workers alone for family coverage rose from $1,976 to $4,390 (an increase of 122.2 percent), and for individual coverage, these costs rose from $419 to $860 (an increase of 105.3 percent).” [Families USA, September 2009]

2009: Arizona Workers’ “Health-Insurance Premiums Will Rise 5 Percent Or More In 2010 Even After Companies Shift To Lower-Cost, Less-Extensive Plans, Which Often Require Workers To Dig Deeper Into Their Own Pockets.” According to the Arizona Republic, “Arizonans who get health insurance through their employers can expect to pay more and receive less coverage next year. Health-insurance premiums will rise 5 percent or more in 2010 even after companies shift to lower-cost, less-extensive plans, which often require workers to dig deeper into their own pockets for basic services, according to a Phoenix-based benefits consultant. Grappling with the twin challenges of a tough economy and rising health expenses, companies are taking aggressive steps to stem the rising cost of benefits.” [Arizona Republic via LexisNexis, 11/19/09]

Arizona Utility Worker’s Premiums Rose From $0 In 2003 To $1,600 In 2008, And Worker Was Responsible For Up To $4,000 In Out-Of-Pocket Medical Expenses. According to the New York Times, “‘It just keeps eating into people’s income,’ said James Corbin, a former union official who works for the local utility in Tucson. Mr. Corbin said that under their employer’s health plan, he and his co-workers are now obliged to pay up to $4,000 of their families’ annual medical bills, on top of about $1,600 a year in premiums. Five years ago, they paid no premiums and were responsible for only about $2,000 of their families’ medical bills. ‘That’s a big jump,’ Mr. Corbin said. ‘You’ve just lost a month’s pay.’” [New York Times, 5/4/08]

South Carolina – Rep. Trey Gowdy (SC-4)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums In South Carolina Increased By 94.4 Percent From 2000 Through 2009 – 5.4 Times Faster Than Median Earnings. According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for South Carolina’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for South Carolina’s workers rose 5.4 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 94.4 percent, while median earnings rose by only 17.6 percent.” [Families USA, September 2009]

In 2009, $1,000 Of The Average South Carolina Family’s Premiums Went To Cover The Costs Of Care For The Uninsured. According to the Greenville News, “The average South Carolina family pays more than $1,000 a year through its insurance premiums to cover health care for people with no insurance. It’s a ‘hidden health tax’ that results when costs of care for the uninsured are shifted to paying patients through higher charges to their insurers, according to data compiled by the Families USA consumer group.” [Greenville News via LexisNexis, 5/28/09]

Post And Courier: Blue Cross Blue Shield Of South Carolina “Boosted The Pay Of Board Members And Top Executives While Sticking Policyholders With Ever-Higher Premiums.” According to the Post and Courier, “Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, which has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in profits over the past five years, has boosted the pay of board members and top executives while sticking policyholders with ever-higher premiums, a Post and Courier review found.” [Post and Courier via LexisNexis, 5/1/11]

• Nine Board Members “More Than Doubled” Their Salaries In 2011 While Blue Cross Was “Sitting On Excess Capital Reserves” That “Should Have Been Returned To Policyholders Through Rebates Or Lowered Premiums.” According to the Post and Courier, “The nine members of the company’s board of directors have more than doubled their reported salaries in the past year, financial filings show. In 2010, two executives earned more than $1 million in salary and bonus pay, and another earned more than $2.2 million, according to the filings. As top earners’ salaries have surged, an April financial analysis showed the insurer is sitting on excess capital reserves, money that instead should have been returned to policyholders through rebates or lowered premiums, consumer watchdogs said. The health insurer also has been accused of having a vise on the state’s insurance market, stifling competition and leaving its 1-million-plus South Carolina customers with few health care alternatives.” [Post and Courier via LexisNexis, 5/1/11]

South Carolina Worker Saw His Insurance Costs Increase So Much Some Years That “His Annual Salary Wound Up Lower Than The Year Before Even Though He Got A Raise.” According to the Greenville News, “Before he was laid off last November, Scott Morris saw his employer-sponsored insurance costs increase every year while his coverage declined. Sometimes, he says, those costs increased so much that his annual salary wound up lower than the year before even though he got a raise. ‘Every year we had to pay more,” said the Greer man. “Actually, a couple of years the premium went up more than the cost-of-living increase.’” [Greenville News via LexisNexis, 9/19/09]

Texas – Rep. Blake Farenthold (TX-27)

Report: Family Health Insurance Premiums In Texas Increased By 91.6 Percent From 2000 Through 2009 – 4.6 Times Faster Than Median Earnings.  According to Families USA, “This report, which is based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, examines what these trends mean for Texas’s working families. Over the past decade (2000 through 2009), family health insurance premiums for Texas’s workers rose 4.6 times more quickly than median earnings. On average, health care premiums for families rose by 91.6 percent, while median earnings rose by only 19.7 percent.” [Families USA, September 2009]

2009: 5.6 Million Texans Were Expected To “Spend More Than 10 Percent Of Their Pre-Tax Family Income On Health Care.” According to the Dallas Morning News, “5.6 million people under age 65, or 26 percent of the population, will spend more than 10 percent of their pre-tax family income on health care this year, and 72 percent of those Texas families are insured, according to Families USA, a Washington, D.C., consumer health care advocacy group.” [Dallas Morning News via LexisNexis, 5/16/09]

2002: Insurance Premiums In Texas “Jumped 25 Percent,” Which Outpaced “Rising Health Care Costs Nation Wide.” According to the Houston Chronicle, “Premiums in the state are outpacing rising health insurance costs nationwide, having jumped 25 percent this year compared with a national average of 15 percent, according to the Texas Association of Business.” [Houston Chronicle via LexisNexis, 4/24/02]

2001: “Texas Employers Expect Health-Insurance Premiums To Rise An Average Of 12 Percent.” According to the Dallas Morning News, “Texas employers expect health-insurance premiums to rise an average of 12 percent this year, about double last year’s increase, according to a consulting firm’s survey. New York consulting firm William M. Mercer Inc. said it quizzed 190 Texas employers as part of its annual health-insurance survey.” [Dallas Morning News via LexisNexis, 1/4/01]

Small Business Owner’s Premiums For Her 55 Employees Went Up By 40 Percent, And Prescription Drug Costs Spiked 60 Percent. According to the Houston Chronicle, “Michele Falzon, president of F.W. Gartner Thermal Spraying Co., was just notified that her company’s health insurance premiums are going up – again. Falzon is joined by other Texas business owners in bracing for another big increase. […] Falzon was told that her insurance premiums for her 55 employees would be increasing 40 percent and prescription drug costs by 60 percent. So she is shopping for a new insurance company to replace Humana, which her company has been with for only 12 months. ‘I’m in a little state of panic,’ she said.” [Houston Chronicle via LexisNexis, 4/24/02]

Ignoring Abuses, Congressional Republicans Have Long Pushed To Deregulate The Health Insurance Industry

Republican Study Committee: “Conservatives Recognize That Patient-Center Reforms Rooted In Free Markets Are The Best Way To…Solve Problems In Our Health Care System.” According to the Republican Study Committee website, “Simply repealing the President’s health care law is not enough—it must be replaced. Conservatives recognize that patient-centered reforms rooted in free markets are the best way to lower costs and solve problems in our health care system.” [RSC.Scalise.House.gov, Accessed 12/6/13]

• The Majority Of House Republicans—Including Ten House Oversight Committee Members—Are Cosponsors Of The RSC’s American Health Care Reform Act of 2013. According to Congress.gov, 116  Republicans, including ten current members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, are cosponsors of H.R. 3121, the RSC’s American Health Care Reform Act of 2013. [RSC.Scalise.House.gov, Accessed 12/6/13; Congress.gov, Accessed 12/6/13]

Eleven Current Members Of The House Oversight Committee Support The “Contract From America,” Which States That Obamacare Should Be Replaced With A “Free-Market Health Care And Health Insurance System.” According to the Contract From America website, signers pledge to “Defund, repeal and replace the recently passed government-run health care with a system that actually makes health care and insurance more affordable by enabling a competitive, open, and transparent free-market health care and health insurance system that isn’t restricted by state boundaries.” According to the website, 11 current members of the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform have signed the “Contract From America.”[ContractFromAmerica.org, Accessed 12/6/13; ContractFromAmerica.org, Accessed 12/6/13]

Oversight Committee Republicans Side With The Health Care Industry Over The Uninsured

Rep. Darrell Issa Reached Out To “Entities Representing Health Care…Providers” To Ask Which Obama Administration Regulations To Target. According to Politico, “Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wants the oil industry, drug manufacturers and other trade groups and companies to tell him which Obama administration regulations to target this year. The incoming chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee – in letters sent to more than 150 trade associations, companies and think tanks last month – requested a list of existing and proposed regulations that would harm job growth. […] Others receiving inquiries from Issa over the course of the month included the American Petroleum Institute, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) and entities representing health care and telecommunication providers.” [Politico, 1/4/11]

Rep. Rob Woodall To Woman Wondering About Post-Retirement Health Coverage: “You Want The Government To Take Care Of You. … My Question Is, ‘When Do I Decide I’m Going To Take Care Of Me?’” According to the Huffington Post, “Rep. Rob Woodall, a Georgia Republican, made a vigorous ideological defense of ending Medicare as it currently exists, telling seniors at a local town hall that they ought not look to the government to provide health care for the elderly just because their private employer doesn’t offer health benefits for retirees. A Woodall constituent raised a practical obstacle to obtaining coverage in the private market within the confines of an employer-based health insurance system: What happens when you retire? ‘The private corporation that I retired from does not give medical benefits to retirees,’ the woman told the congressman in video captured a local Patch reporter in Dacula, Ga. ‘Hear yourself, ma’am. Hear yourself,’ Woodall told the woman. ‘You want the government to take care of you, because your employer decided not to take care of you. My question is, ‘When do I decide I’m going to take care of me?’” [Huffington Post, 5/23/11]

Rep. Blake Farenthold: Uninsured Population Is More A “Psychological Crisis” Than A “National Crisis” Because Those In Need Of Medical Care Can Go To The Emergency Room. According to the Texas Tribune, “Smith reminded Hunter and Farenthold of Texas’ large uninsured population as a historic fact and as a percentage of the latest census data. Farenthold said the numbers skew reality by suggesting those who do not have insurance do not have access to health care. ‘There’s more of a psychological crisis than there is a national crisis,’ he said. Those who need care can get it at the emergency room, he said.” [Texas Tribune, 11/26/12]

The GOP’s 2009 Obamacare Alternative

2009 GOP Alternative Health Care Reform Proposal Included Several Deregulation Measures. According to the New York Times, “House Republicans have come up with an answer to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, drafting an alternative health care bill that would reward states for reducing the number of uninsured, limit damages in medical malpractice lawsuits and allow small businesses to band together and buy insurance exempt from most state regulation. […] The House Republican bill would not explicitly prohibit insurers from denying coverage to people because of pre-existing medical conditions, even though many Republicans have said they agree with Democrats that the federal government should outlaw such denials. […] The bill would also make it easier for insurers to sell insurance across state lines. Policies would be subject to laws in a company’s home state, but would be exempt from many of the consumer protection laws, rating rules and benefit mandates in other states where the company sold coverage. Republicans would also allow small businesses to pool their insurance buying power through ‘association health plans,’ sponsored by trade and professional associations and chambers of commerce. These plans would have ‘sole discretion’ over what services to cover. Consumer groups, state officials and Blue Cross and Blue Shield executives have historically opposed such association health plans, saying they could engage in risky practices free from state regulation.” [New York Times, 11/3/09]

• CBO: GOP Plan Wouldn’t Have Increased Insurance Coverage. According to Ezra Klein’s Washington Post blog, “[T]he Congressional Budget Office released its initial analysis of the health-care reform plan that Republican Minority Leader John Boehner offered as a substitute to the Democratic legislation. CBO begins with the baseline estimate that 17 percent of legal, non-elderly residents won’t have health-care insurance in 2010. In 2019, after 10 years of the Republican plan, CBO estimates that …17 percent of legal, non-elderly residents won’t have health-care insurance. The Republican alternative will have helped 3 million people secure coverage, which is barely keeping up with population growth. Compare that to the Democratic bill, which covers 36 million more people and cuts the uninsured population to 4 percent. […] According to CBO, the GOP’s alternative will shave $68 billion off the deficit in the next 10 years. The Democrats, CBO says, will slice $104 billion off the deficit. The Democratic bill, in other words, covers 12 times as many people and saves $36 billion more than the Republican plan.” [Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 11/5/09]
• 176 House Republicans Voted For The GOP Substitute. The Boehner amendment to H.R. 3962 was rejected 176-258, with all but one Republican voting in favor of the substitute amendment and all Democrats voting against. [H.R. 3962, Vote #885, 11/7/09]

Empowering Patients First Act – Another GOP Obamacare Alternative

Empowering Patients First Act Introduced In 2009, 2011, And 2013. According to GovTrack.us, the 2013 version of the Empowering Patients First Act (H.R. 2300), introduced by Rep. Tom Price, (R-GA), had 49 Republican cosponsors. The 2011 version (H.R. 3000), also introduced by Price, had 42 Republican cosponsors. The 2009 version (H.R. 3400), also introduced by Price, had 54 Republican cosponsors. [H.R. 2300 via GovTrack.us, Viewed 12/9/13; H.R. 3000 via GovTrack.us, Viewed 12/9/13; H.R. 3400 via GovTrack.us, viewed 12/9/13]

• Empowering Patients First Act Doesn’t Have Insurance Market Regulations. According to Ezra Klein’s Washington Post blog, “There’s no individual mandate ensuring that the pool includes both healthy and sick individuals, no insurance market regulations stopping insurers from cherrypicking, and no risk adjustment rebalancing the scales when they do.” [Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 10/7/09]
• Bill Would Not Prohibit Insurers From Pre-Existing Condition Discrimination. According to the National Journal, “It’s not the first ACA alternative the GOP has produced. In June, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga. introduced the Empowering Patients First Act. It would provide insurance-premium tax credits based on income, similar to the ACA, but wouldn’t outlaw discrimination against people with preexisting conditions. It has been referred to committee. If the legislation sounds familiar, it’s because Price sponsored it in the last two Congresses. It did not make it out of committee in either session.” [National Journal, 9/22/13]
• Bill Would Give Insurers “More Freedom To Work Across State Lines.” According to CBS News, “While Democrats are focusing on creating something like a government-sponsored health insurance plan and regulating the health insurance market, the Republican ‘Empowering Patients First Act,’ which Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) will introduce tomorrow, instead promotes the individual insurance market as well as employer-based markets. Instead of focusing on regulating private insurers, the plan would in fact give them more freedom to work across state lines. […] Republicans are also proposing to expand the individual market by creating pooling mechanisms such as association health plans and individual membership accounts. Consumers would also be able to shop for insurance across state lines.” [CBS News, 7/29/09]

Selling Insurance Across State Lines

2005 Health Care Choice Act Would Allow Insurers To Sell Health Care Policies Across State Lines. According to the Congressional Budget Office, “H.R. 2355 would amend the Public Health Service Act to permit an entity licensed by one state (the ‘primary’ state) to offer health insurance coverage to individuals residing in that state, to also offer that health insurance coverage to individuals residing in a ‘secondary’ state.” [Congressional Budget Office, 9/12/05]

• Bill Had 71 Cosponsors In The House, All Republicans. According to GovTrack.us, H.R. 2355, the Health Care Choice Act of 2005, was introduced by Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) on May 12, 2005, and had 71 Republican cosponsors. [H.R. 2355 via GovTrack.us, viewed 12/9/13]
• Health Care Choice Act Was Reintroduced In 2007, 2009, 2011, And 2013. According to GovTrack.us, H.R. 4460, the Health Care Choice Act of 2007, was introduced by Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) on December 12, 2007. It had 63 Republican cosponsors. H.R. 3217, the Health Care Choice Act of 2009, was introduced by Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) on July 14, 2009. It had 28 Republican cosponsors. H.R. 371, The Health Care Choice Act of 2011, was introduced by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on January 20, 2011. It had 154 Republican cosponsors. H.R. 762, the Health Care Choice Act of 2013, was introduced by Rep. Marsh Blackburn on February 15, 2013. It has 23 Republican cosponsors. [H.R. 4460 via GovTrack.us, viewed 12/9/13; H.R. 3217 via GovTrack.us, viewed 12/9/13; H.R. 371 via GovTrack.us, viewed 12/9/13; H.R. 762 via GovTrack.us, viewed 12/9/13]
• Health Care Choice Act Is Part Of GOP’s Plan To Deregulate Health Insurance Sales. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Following up on their largely symbolic vote to repeal the new healthcare law, House Republicans moved ahead Thursday with more targeted efforts to advance their own healthcare initiatives, including deregulating health insurance sales. More than 60 House Republicans signed on to a new bill to permit interstate sales of health insurance. The goal would be to lower premium costs by avoiding requirements in many states that insurers cover certain services, such as maternity care, cancer screenings and mastectomies.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/21/11]

Allowing Health Insurance Sales Across State Lines Is Part Of The GOP’s “Pledge To America.” According to the health care section of GOP.gov’s “Pledge to America” outline, “Americans residing in a state with expensive health insurance plans are locked into those plans and do not currently have an opportunity to choose a lower cost option that best meets their needs. We will allow individuals to buy health care coverage outside of the state in which they live.” [GOP.gov, viewed 12/6/13]

Cross-State Insurance Plan Sales Mean Insurance Companies Are Likely To Cluster In States With The Most Lax Regulations And Fewest Consumer Protections. According to Ezra Klein’s Washington Post blog, “Insurance is currently regulated by states. California, for instance, says all insurers have to cover treatments for lead poisoning, while other states let insurers decide whether to cover lead poisoning, and leaves lead poisoning coverage — or its absence — as a surprise for customers who find that they have lead poisoning. […] The result of this is that an Alabama plan can’t be sold in, say, Oregon, because the Alabama plan doesn’t conform to Oregon’s regulations. A lot of liberals want that to change: It makes more sense, they say, for insurance to be regulated by the federal government. That way the product is standard across all the states. Conservatives want the opposite: They want insurers to be able to cluster in one state, follow that state’s regulations and sell the product to everyone in the country. In practice, that means we will have a single national insurance standard. But that standard will be decided by South Dakota. Or, if South Dakota doesn’t give the insurers the freedom they want, it’ll be decided by Wyoming. Or whoever.” [Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 2/17/10]

CBO Found Cross-State Insurance Sales Would Raise Costs For The Sick Without Increasing Number Of Americans With Coverage. According to Ezra Klein’s Washington Post blog, “As it happens, the Congressional Budget Office looked at a bill along these lines back in 2005. They found that the legislation wouldn’t change the number of the uninsured and would save the federal government about $12 billion between 2007 and 2015. That is to say, it would do very little in the aggregate. But those top-line numbers hid a more depressing story. The legislation ‘would reduce the price of individual health insurance coverage for people expected to have relatively low health care costs, while increasing the price of coverage for those expected to have relatively high health care costs,’ CBO said. ‘Therefore, CBO expects that there would be an increase in the number of relatively healthy individuals, and a decrease in the number of individuals expected to have relatively high cost, who buy individual coverage.’ That is to say, the legislation would not change the number of insured Americans or save much money, but it would make insurance more expensive for the sick and cheaper for the healthy, and lead to more healthy people with insurance and fewer sick people with insurance. It’s a great proposal if you don’t ever plan to be sick, and if you don’t mind finding out that your insurer doesn’t cover your illness. And it’s the Republican plan for health-care reform.” [Ezra Klein, Washington Post, 2/17/10]

Deregulated “Association Health Plans”

2005: House Republicans Passed A Bill Allowing Groups Of Small Businesses To Purchase Deregulated Insurance Plans. According to the Lowell Sun, “The House vote was split, 263-165, highlighting Democrats’ deep suspicion of a Republican-backed bill with a friendly name: Small Business Health Fairness Act. All 10 Massachusetts congressmen, all Democrats, opposed the measure, concerned about the bill’s creation of a new insurance group, called association health plans [AHPs]. Such groups would be able to sidestep state laws that guarantee worker protections, such as insurance coverage for some mental-health treatments, mammograms and diabetes and cancer screening, congressmen said. They also say the plans could drive the price of insurance up for small businesses not enrolled in associations.” [Lowell Sun, 8/18/05]

Small Business Health Fairness Act Reintroduced In 2011. According to the Library of Congress, Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) introduced H.R. 1050, the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2011, on March 11, 2011. [H.R. 1050 via Library of Congress, viewed 12/9/13]

CEO Of Insurance Commissioners Group: Small Business Health Fairness Act Would Allow Some Health Plans To “Operate Outside The Authority Of State Regulators And Beyond The Reach Of Proven State Consumer Protections.” According to a letter from Catherine Weatherford, CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, to Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), “The House Education and the Workforce Committee is once again scheduled to consider legislation that would allow a new category of health insurance company, ‘Association Health Plans (AHPs),’ to form and operate outside the authority of state regulators and beyond the reach of proven state consumer protections and solvency laws […] Even more troubling than the bill’s lack of effectiveness in meeting its stated goal is the harm the  legislation would do to consumers. H.R. 525 would segment the small group market, eliminate critical consumer protections, and lead to increased fraud and plan failures.” [Letter from NAIC to Rep. John Boehner, 3/11/05, Govtrack.us, viewed 12/6/13]

Georgetown University Study: “The Elimination Of State Oversight Will Leave Consumers Vulnerable To Fraud And Abuse.” According to Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, “A new study by Mila Kofman, J.D. – Assistant Research Professor at Georgetown University and one of the nation’s leading experts on private health insurance fraud – concludes that exempting association health plans (AHPs) from state oversight ‘would create a regulatory vacuum’ that will allow scam operators to flourish, leaving businesses and consumers at serious risk for ‘bankruptcy, delayed or foregone medical care, and loss of coverage.’ […] The elimination of state oversight will leave consumers vulnerable to fraud and abuse – because the bill would prohibit states from protecting consumers enrolled in AHPs.” [Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, viewed 12/9/13]

Blue Cross Blue Shield: The Bill Would “Eliminate Existing Basic Limits On How Much And How Often Premiums Can Be Increased, Assurances That Critical Health Services Are Covered…And Extensive Consumer Protections.” According to a statement from Mary Nell Lehnhard, senior vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, “Today’s passage by the House of Representatives of H.R. 525, ‘The Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005,’ would be devastating to small businesses and their workers who are in desperate need of quality, affordable health coverage. By exempting association health plans (AHPs) from state laws and consumer protections, the House-approved legislation would eliminate existing basic limits on how much and how often premiums can be increased, assurances that critical health services are covered, requirements on how much insurers have in the bank so that claims are paid, and extensive consumer protections such as the right to appeal to an independent panel when a claim is denied.” [Blue Cross Blue Shield Statement via PR Newswire, 7/26/05]

Blue Cross Blue Shield: Research Shows “Federal AHPs Would Increase Premiums For Most Small Employers And Their Workers.” According to a statement from Mary Nell Lehnhard, senior vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, “The Georgetown paper adds to the already extensive body of research conducted over the past five years on this topic from sources like the Congressional Budget Office, Mercer Consulting, the California Healthcare Foundation and others, who have found that federal AHPs would increase premiums for most small employers and their workers, and make it much harder, if not impossible, for small business owners with older, sicker workers to gain access to affordable health coverage.” [Blue Cross Blue Shield Statement via PR Newswire, 7/26/05]

The Guttmacher Institute, NOW, Planned Parenthood, And A Number Of Other Women’s, Health, And Physicians’ Groups Opposed Act Over Fears Of Deregulation’s Consequences. According to a letter sent to members of the House of Representatives and signed by 27 groups, “The undersigned organizations supporting women’s health and access to reproductive services write to express our concerns regarding the Small Business Fairness Act of 2005 (H.R. 525). H.R. 525, which the House is expected to vote on this week, would exempt association health plans (AHPs) from critical state regulation and oversight. Instead of providing broader access to comprehensive health insurance for the millions of uninsured American women and families, H.R. 525 will undermine women’s access to quality, affordable health insurance and may actually increase the ranks of the uninsured.” [Letter To Members Of House Of Representatives, 7/25/05]

Gutting Obamacare’s Assurance That Companies Spend Most Of Your Premiums On Your Care

Nearly 200 House Republicans Cosponsored An Industry-Backed Bill That Would “Gut” Obamacare’s Medical Loss Ratio Provision. According to the Center for Public Integrity, “For example, under the new law, insurance companies must spend at least 80 cents of every premium dollar on medical care for individual and small business policyholders — and 85 cents for large groups. That’s a provision the industry would like to see repealed. […] Indeed, AHIP has lobbied extensively for a new bill that — according to Consumer Watchdog’s Balber — ‘would effectively gut the medical loss ratio requirement,’ by allowing insurance companies to include broker compensation as a medical care cost in the ratio. This legislation, introduced as H.R. 1206, is sponsored by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and was forwarded to the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Sept. 11. Rogers ranks 19th on the Center’s list of top health insurance beneficiaries, receiving $90,500 over the nearly six-year period.” According to GovTrack.us, H.R. 1206, the Access to Professional Health Insurance Advisors Act of 2011, had 221 cosponsors, 196 of whom were Republicans. [Center for Public Integrity, 10/4/12; H.R. 1206 via GovTrack.us, accessed 12/6/13]

• Bill Was Reintroduced In 2013. According to GovTrack.us, the Access to Professional Health Insurance Advisors Act of 2013 was introduced by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) on June 12, 2013. It has 93 cosponsors, 79 of whom are Republicans. [H.R. 2328 via GovTrack.us, viewed 12/9/13]

GOP Has Made It Their Mission To Eliminate Health Care Reform Despite Its Protections Against Industry Abuse

Affordable Care Act Protects Against “The Insurance Industry’s Worst Abuses.” According to Seattle Magazine, “Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, some of its most important provisions are already in place, including protection from the insurance industry’s worst abuses, the introduction of preventive care and access to health insurance for vulnerable groups, such as children and young adults. Health insurance companies can no longer cancel coverage if someone becomes seriously ill. Lifetime medical limits are now illegal. Annual checkups and some preventive care are no longer subject to copayments or deductibles.” [Seattle Magazine, Fall/Winter 2013-2014]

GOP Campaigned On Repealing Health Care Reform In 2010. According to CNN, “During the runup to the midterm elections, Republicans campaigned heavily on repealing and replacing the law. They cited the ‘will of the people’ — noting that voters, especially members of the Tea Party movement, overwhelmingly rejected the Democrats’ policies. After their historic gains in the midterms, Republicans now control the House and hold a large number of seats in the Senate, and they are living up to that promise. The GOP has been saying that the law as currently written will hamper prospects for long-term economic growth while doing little to slow spiraling medical costs.” [CNN, 1/19/11]

House GOP Has Voted At Least 46 Times To Repeal Or Defund The Affordable Care Act. According to Talking Points Memo, “House Republicans are racking up the Obamacare repeal votes in the government shutdown fight. The GOP-led House has now voted 46 times to repeal, defund or dismantle President Barack Obma’s [sic] signature achievement. Prior to the government funding battle, the tally stood at 41, the latest one on Sept. 12. The 42nd vote vote [sic] was to defund Obamacare in a continuing resolution. When the Senate killed that, House Republicans held two votes on amendments to delay the law for one year and to repeal its medical device tax. Up to 44. Then after the Senate killed that, too, the House GOP held a vote to delay the law’s individual mandate and prohibit health insurance subsidies for members of Congress and staff. 45 votes. After yet another Senate rejection, and in the first hour of a government shutdown, the House voted to request conference negotiations while re-affirming their previous Obamacare repeal vote. 46 votes.” [Talking Points Memo, 10/1/13] 

Between January 2011 And May 2013, House Republicans Spent 15 Percent Of Their Floor Time Trying To Repeal Health Care Reform. According to the New York Times, “The repeal vote, which is likely to occur Thursday, will be at least the 43rd day since Republicans took over the House that they have devoted time to voting on the issue. To put that in perspective, they have held votes on only 281 days since taking power in January 2011. (The House and Senate have pretty light legislative loads these days, typically voting only three or four days a week.) That means that since 2011, Republicans have spent no less than 15 percent of their time on the House floor on repeal in some way.” [New York Times, 5/14/13]

GOP Shut Down Government Over Health Care Reform. According to NPR, “Remember how that fight over the budget was all about Obamacare? Seems like ancient history now, but House Republicans ostensibly shut down the government 17 days ago, demanding first a defunding, and, when that failed, a year’s delay in the health law. When it became clear that President Obama and Senate Democrats weren’t going to yield to demands to stop or slow implementation of the administration’s signature legislative achievement, Republicans looked for smaller changes. They floated the idea of killing or delaying an unpopular tax on medical devices. Many Senate Democrats joined Republicans in a nonbinding vote of displeasure on the tax earlier this year. The Republicans also looked to take away health insurance contributions for congressional and executive branch staffers. And they proposed to delay a temporary $63 annual per-person health insurance tax intended to build a fund to help pay for high-cost cases. None of those things ended up in the final bill that reopened the federal government and raised the debt ceiling Wednesday night.” [NPR, 10/17/13]

GOP Hoping To Campaign On Exchange Glitches In 2014. According to the Associated Press, “While Congress was arguing, President Barack Obama’s plan to expand coverage for the uninsured suffered a self-inflicted wound. A computer system seemingly designed by gremlins gummed up the first open enrollment season. After nearly three weeks, it’s still not fixed. Republicans hope to ride that and other defects they see in the law into the 2014 congressional elections. Four Democratic senators are facing re-election for the first time since they voted for the Affordable Care Act, and their defeat is critical to GOP aspirations for a Senate majority.” [Associated Press, 10/21/13]

Insurance Companies Have Given Millions GOP Oversight Committee Members

Two-Thirds Of Health Insurance Industry Political Donations Went To Anti-Obamacare Republicans Between 2007 And August 2012. According to the Center for Public Integrity, “Between January of 2007 and August of 2012, the political action committees of the 11 largest health insurance companies and their primary trade group gave $10.2 million to federal politicians with nearly two-thirds of the total going to Republicans who oppose the law or support its repeal, according to the Center for Public Integrity’s analysis of Federal Election Commission filings.” [Center for Public Integrity, 10/4/12]

Republican Members Of The House Oversight Committee Have Received Nearly $300,000 From Top Health Insurance Companies’ PACs. According to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, PACs associated with Aetna, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Amerigroup, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Centene Corporation, Cigna, Health Net, Humana, Molina Healthcare, UnitedHealth Group, and WellPoint donated a total of $291,330 to Republican members of the House Oversight Committee since 1997. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $72,421 To Rep. Darrell Issa. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) has received at least $72,421 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between 2000 and 2014 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $38,000 To Rep. Doc Hastings. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) has received at least $38,000 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 1998 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $29,925 To Rep. Pat Meehan. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA) has received at least $29,925 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2010 and 2014 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $25,750 To Rep. Jim Jordan. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) has received at least $25,750 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between 2006 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $22,500 To Rep. Tim Walberg. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) has received at least $22,500 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2008 and 2014 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $20,984 To Rep. Trey Gowdy. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) has received at least $20,984 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2012 and 2014 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $17,000 To Rep. Patrick McHenry. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) has received at least $17,000 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2006 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $14,750 To Rep. John Mica. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. John Mica (R-FL) has received at least $14,750 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 1998 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $12,000 To Rep. Thomas Massie. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has received at least $12,000 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2012 and 2014 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $7,500 To Rep. James Lankford. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. James Lankford (R-OK) received at least $7,500 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies in the 2012 election cycle. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $5,500 To Rep. Michael Turner. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH) has received at least $5,500 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2002 and 2004 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $5,000 To Rep. Jason Chaffetz. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has received at least $5,000 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $4,000 To Rep. Blake Farenthold. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) has received at least $4,000 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2012 and 2014 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $3,500 To Rep. Paul Gosar. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) received at least $3,500 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies in the 2012 election cycle. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $3,500 To Rep. Rob Woodall. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Rob Woodall (R-GA) has received at least $3,500 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $3,500 To Rep. Scott Desjarlais. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Scott Desjarlais (R-TN) has received at least $3,500 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2012 and 2014 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $2,000 To Rep. Justin Amash. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) has received at least $2,000 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $2,500 To Rep. John Duncan. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. John Duncan (R-TN) has received at least $2,500 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies between the 1998 and 2012 election cycles. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

Top Health Insurance Companies Have Donated $1,000 To Rep. Ron DeSantis. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has received at least $1,000 from PACs associated with top health insurance companies in the 2014 election cycle. [Center for Responsive Politics, accessed 12/9/13]

GOP’s Hearing Witnesses Are Largely Conservative Operatives And Anti-Health Care Reform Crusaders

Dr. Avik. S. A. Roy, M.D.

Senior Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research

Roy Advised Mitt Romney’s 2012 Campaign And Is Tied To Several Conservative Think Tanks

During 2012 Campaign, Roy Was A Health Care Policy Adviser For Mitt Romney. According to the Manhattan Institute’s website, “In 2012, Roy served as a health care policy adviser to Mitt Romney.” [Manhattan-Institute.org, accessed 12/10/13]

• Roy Worked For Bain Capital From 2001-2003. According to his LinkedIn profile, Avik Roy worked for Bain Capital as an associate from March 2001 through May 2004. [LinkedIn.com, accessed 12/10/13]

Roy Is A Senior Fellow At The Manhattan Institute And Researches “The Affordable Care Act, Universal Coverage, Entitlement Reform, International Health Systems And FDA Policy”. According to the Manhattan Institute’s website, “Avik Roy is a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. […] At the Manhattan Institute, Roy’s research interests include the Affordable Care Act, universal coverage, entitlement reform, international health systems, and FDA policy.” [Manhattan-Institute.org, accessed 12/10/13]

Roy Is A Health Care Policy Advisor At The Heartland Institute, A Conservative Think Tank. According to the Heartland Institute’s website, “Avik Roy was named a policy advisor for health care policy at The Heartland Institute in 2011.” [Heartland.org, accessed 12/10/13]

Roy Founded Roy Healthcare Research, Which “Provides Proprietary Healthcare Investment And Policy Research To Leading Institutional Investors And Stakeholders.” According to the Manhattan Institute’s website, “Roy is the founder of Roy Healthcare Research, an investment research firm in New York.” According to Roy Healthcare Research’s website, “Roy Healthcare Research, LLC provides proprietary healthcare investment research to leading institutional investors.” [Manhattan-Institute.org, accessed 12/10/13; RoyHCR.com, accessed 12/11/13]

Roy Previously Worked For Brokerage Firm Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. According to his LinkedIn profile, Avik Roy worked for Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. from April 2009 to January 2012. [LinkedIn.com, accessed 12/10/13]

Roy Writes A Forbes Blog “On Health Care Policy And Entitlement Reform” And A Weekly Column For National Review Online, And Is A “Frequent Guest” On TV News Shows. According to the Manhattan Institute’s website, “He is editor and principal author of The Apothecary, the influential Forbes blog on health care policy and entitlement reform […] In addition, Roy writes a weekly column for National Review Online on politics and policy. He is a frequent guest on television news programs, including appearances on Fox News, Fox Business, MSNBC, CNBC, Bloomberg, PBS, and HBO. His work has also appeared in The Atlantic, USA Today, National Affairs, and The American Spectator, among other publications.” [Manhattan-Institute.org, accessed 12/10/13]

Roy Is Extremely Critical Of Obamacare

Tea Party Patriots Lauded Roy For Keeping “Heavy Fire Trained On The Obama Administration And Obamacare In Particular.” According to Tea Party Patriots’ website, “Avik Roy has kept heavy fire trained on the Obama Administration and Obamacare in particular. Recently, Roy threw everything but the kitchen sink at the President in a devastating column analyzing why www.healthcare.gov is falling apart. Roy’s column is worth reading in full and sharing with your friends, family, social media, and pretty much everywhere else you can.” [TeaPartyPatriots.org, 11/12/13]

July 2013: Roy Testified Before The Health Subcommittee Of The House Ways And Means Committee, Arguing That Obamacare’s Employer Mandate Should Be Repealed. According to the testimony of Avik Roy before the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, “While the Affordable Care Act strives to achieve many things, the law’s primary goal is to move the United States as close as possible to universal health insurance coverage. Does the employer mandate help to achieve this goal? My view, and the view of many others across the spectrum, is that it does not. […] The employer mandate harms those it is intended to help. Instead of delaying it, we should repeal it.” [Roy Testimony via Manhattan-Institute.org, 7/10/13]

Roy Op-Ed: “Obamacare…Will Increase Individual-Market Premiums In California By As Much As 146 Percent.” According to an article written by Avik Roy on his Apothocary blog on Forbes’ website, “Last week, the state of California claimed that its version of Obamacare’s health insurance exchange would actually reduce premiums. ‘These rates are way below the worst-case gloom-and-doom scenarios we have heard,’ boasted Peter Lee, executive director of the California exchange. But the data that Lee released tells a different story: Obamacare, in fact, will increase individual-market premiums in California by as much as 146 percent.” [Op-Ed – Forbes, 5/30/13]

• New Republic’s Cohn: Roy’s Claim Is “Irresponsible” Because “He Plucked Out Two Examples” And “Pretended They Were Emblematic.” According to Jonathan Cohn’s New Republic blog, “If you want to know why we can’t have an honest debate about Obamacare, all you have to do is pay attention to some recent news from California—and the way a highly distorted version of it, by one irresponsible writer, has rippled through the conservative press. […] ‘Obamacare itself more than doubles the cost of insurance on the individual market,’ Roy wrote. […] Within a day or so, every right-wing outlet had picked up Roy’s calculation […] While all of us are susceptible to hyperbole or selective interpretation [sic] from time to time, Roy’s column was something else entirely. He plucked out two examples of people who would pay more in California, pretended they were emblematic of the system as a whole, then accused other writers of being irresponsible.” [Op-Ed – New Republic, 6/3/13]

Roy’s Research For The Manhattan Institute Has Criticized The Affordable Care Act And Medicare. According to the Manhattan Institute’s website, Roy’s research includes papers titled, “Building A Better Medicare Program: Lessons from the Private Sector”; “Debating Health Reform: The Pre-existing Condition Problem”; and “The Medicaid Mess: How Obamacare Makes It Worse.” [Manhattan-Institute.org, accessed 12/10/13]

• Roy’s Paper On “The Pre-Existing Condition Problem,” Released Just Before The 2012 Election, Explicitly Criticizes Obamacare And Bolster’s Romney’s Alternative. According to the executive summary of Roy’s research paper titled “Debating Health Reform: The Pre-existing Condition Problem, “Whether Americans with pre-existing conditions will be able to qualify for health insurance at a reasonable price without the benefit of new provisions contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, so called Obamacare, has emerged as a major issue in the presidential campaign. This paper analyzes both the effectiveness and the long term consequences of the approach to pre-existing conditions under Obamacare and contrasts it with the consequences of the alternative replacement plan proposed by Republican challenger Mitt Romney. It finds that, although the Obamacare approach guarantees coverage in the short term, it poses long term risks to the U.S. health care system. In contrast, the Romney approach holds the potential to solve the pre-existing condition problem by offering inexpensive individual insurance plans, and deals with problems faced by those who may currently lack insurance due to pre-existing conditions by extending and reforming current federal rules.” [Manhattan-Institute.org, Issues 2012, October 2012]

Roy: “Obamacare Is A War On Bros.” According to an interview Roy gave on Fox News:

STEVE DOOCY (HOST): The average increase in any state is 41 percent in the United States.

ROY: And that’s an average, so the key thing to understand is Obamacare is a war on bros. It’s young men in particular who are going to pay a lot more. Young people are going to pay more, men are going to pay more relative to women, and healthy people are going to pay more relative to sick people.

[YouTube, November 2013]

Roy: The White House’s Ideas For Lowering Health Care Costs Mostly “Consist Of Price Controls, More Regulation, More Mandates, More Bureaucracy.” According to a transcript of Roy speaking on the Health Care News podcast via the Heartland Institute, “The conservative or free market ideas for lowering health care costs are completely different from the ideas of liberal academics espoused by the White House, most of which consist of price controls, more regulation, more mandates, more bureaucracy, whereas the free market approach is: ‘Let’s actually have a free market in health care, and consumers, as with every other sector of the economy, will actually pay for things that make sense from a cost-benefit standpoint.’ If you let individuals actually make the decisions and give them the stake in this market, you’ll see people have a more sensible approach to health care spending, making reasonable decisions based on their needs and priorities.” [Heartland.org, 7/22/11]

Roy Donated To Scott Brown’s 2010 Senate Race. According to Political MoneyLine, Avik Roy of Monness, Crespi, Hardt & Co. Financial Services donated $250 to the Scott Brown for U.S. Senate Committee on January 7, 2010. [Political MoneyLine, accessed 12/10/13]

Dr. Eric N. Novack, M.D.

Orthopaedic Surgeon, OrthoArizona

Eric Novack Is An Orthopedic Surgeon In Arizona And Chairman Of The U.S. Health Care Freedom Coalition. According to the Heritage Foundation, “Dr. Eric Novack, a Phoenix orthopedic surgeon, is the chairman of the Arizona Health Care Freedom Act and the U.S. Health Care Freedom Coalition.” [Heritage Foundation, 7/16/10]

Novack Drafted Health Care Freedom Act, Later Adopted By ALEC As A Model Bill. According to Goldwater Institute’s Clint Bolick, “Eric Novack is a superb orthopedist (as my once-shredded rotator cuff can attest) and a family man with no background in politics and little time for a crusade. But in 2007, he was worried about threats coming down the road to the freedom to practice medicine. He decided to do something about it. Working with the Dr. Jeffrey Singer and the Goldwater Institute, he drafted the Health Care Freedom Act, which would amend Arizona’s Constitution to protect two essential rights: the freedom not to participate in a government health-insurance system, and the right to directly purchase lawful medical services outside of any insurance system. […] Meanwhile, the election of Barack Obama highlighted the threat to health care freedom for everyone. So the American Legislative Exchange Council adopted the Arizona legislation as a model bill. It has been introduced in 36 states, leading both the New York Times and the Washington Post to cover it extensively.” [Clint Bolick, Goldwater Institute, 2/9/10]

Novack Testified To Congress In 2009 And Disputed Number Of Uninsured Americans. According to CNSNews.com, “An Arizona orthopedic surgeon testified in Congress on Tuesday that President Obama’s claim that 46 million Americans don’t have health insurance is not accurate because it does not reflect exactly who those people are and why they are uninsured.’ Dr. Eric Novack testified before the House Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Health about the Obama administration’s proposed health care legislation. Afterward, he told CNSNews.com that the Obama administration’s claim that there are 46 million uninsured people in America includes people with different health care scenarios and that combining them togehter [sic] in one number is misleading.” [CNSNews.com, 6/23/09]

Novack Spoke AT CPAC About Efforts To Get Health Care Act On Arizona Ballot. According to CQ, “Conservative opponents of Democrats’ health care overhaul plans touted their success in Massachusetts and vowed at a Washington political conference Friday to continue their drive to ensure the demise of a ‘big government takeover’ of the system. ‘They are not giving up, and we must not either,’ said Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, as she introduced a panel on ‘Saving Freedom from Obamacare: It Isn’t Over Yet’ at the annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a longtime event gaining new attention this year with the growth of the tea party movement. Much of the anti-overhaul action described by the panelists has come not in Washington, where Democrats control the White House and both houses of Congress, but in the states. […] Eric Novack, an orthopedic surgeon and chairman of Arizonans for Healthcare Freedom, described how his advocacy group gathered hundreds of thousands of signatures and pushed to include on the Arizona ballot in 2008 a constitutional amendment that would block any state plan for universal health coverage. Known as the Freedom to Choose Act, it stated, ‘Because all people should have the right to make decisions about their health care, no law shall be passed that restricts a person’s freedom of choice of private health care systems or private plans of any type.’” [CQ via The Commonwealth Fund, 2/19/10]

Novack In Heritage Foundation Blog: If Government Can Force Individuals To Buy Health Insurance, Why Not Nikes Or Chevy Volts? According to a blog post Novack wrote for the Heritage Foundation, “As just one example of the mandate’s potentially slippery slope, consider the interstate market for transportation. As we’ve seen with the $13 billion bailout of General Motors, stabilizing the automotive industry is clearly a Congressional concern. So why not compel Americans earning, say, more than $35,000 a year to buy GM cars? Or, better still, in a kill-two-birds tactic, why not compel them to buy Chevy Volts, thus ensuring the stability of the auto industry and the interstate market for clean energy? … If that’s a valid reading of the law justifying a mandate, then why not compel Americans to buy 24-Hour Fitness memberships or Nikes? The absence of exercise lowers your fitness level. That increases the likelihood you’ll need health care. Lather, rinse, repeat.” [Eric Novack, Heritage Foundation, 7/16/10]

Novack In 2012 House Testimony:  Health Reform Combines “The Spending Discipline Of The Defense Department With All The Accountability Of The Public Education System.” According to Novack’s testimony before the House Oversight Committee, “A system that combines the spending discipline of the defense department with all the accountability of the public education system – that, sadly, is what the President’s health care law’s legacy will be for the country.” [House Oversight Committee, 7/10/12]

Dr. Jeffrey B. English, M.D.

Director of Clinical Research, The Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta

Jeffrey English Is A Board Certified Neurologist And The Director of Clinical Research at the MS Center of Atlanta. According to the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta, “Dr. English is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology with sub-specialty training in clinical neurophysiology. He is also board certified in Neuroimaging by the United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties. Dr. English is the Director of Clinical Research at the MS Center of Atlanta.” [MS Center of Atlanta, accessed 12/10/13]

Jeffrey English Is A Paid Speaker And Consultant For Several Pharmaceutical Companies. According to the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta, “He is a paid speaker and consultant for several pharmaceutical companies.  These companies include Teva Neurosciences, Biogen-Idec, EMD-Serono, Novartis, and Allergan.” [MS Center of Atlanta, accessed 12/10/13]

• English Has Received A Total Of $11,284 From Pharmaceutical Companies Since 2011. According to ProPublica’s database of pharmaceutical company disclosures, English has received $11,284 since 2011. [ProPublica, accessed 12/10/13]

Jeffrey English Was Featured In A Heritage Foundation Video Warning Of Obamacare’s Impact On Seniors. According to the Heritage Foundation, “Medicare patient Ann Lorenz has relied on the advice and recommendations of her neurologist, Dr. Jeffrey English, since she was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease 13 years ago. So the dramatic changes coming to Medicare via the Affordable Care Act—and its potential to limit seniors’ access to care as doctors foresee dropping Medicare patients—already worry Lorenz.” [Heritage Foundation, 1/23/12]

Docs 4 Patient Care

Jeffrey English Is Currently President Of The Georgia Chapter Of Docs 4 Patient Care. According to the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta, “Dr. English currently serves as the President of Doctors 4 Patient Care, Georgia Chapter.” [MS Center of Atlanta, accessed 12/10/13]

Docs 4 Patient Care Was “Originally Conceived To Oppose Passage Of The Affordable Care Act” And Is Dedicated To “Educating Patients, The Public And Lawmakers About The Dangers Of Government Controlled Healthcare.” According to Docs 4 Patient Care, “Originally conceived to oppose passage of the Affordable Care Act, the physician members of D4PC dedicated their efforts toward educating their patients, the public and lawmakers about the dangers of government controlled healthcare and the eventual destruction of the doctor-patient relationship. Over a short period of time, hundreds of doctors joined us and it became clear that D4PC needed to be more than a single issue organization.” [Doctors 4 Patient Care, accessed 12/10/13]

Docs 4 Patient Care Provided A Letter For Doctors To Hand Out To Their Patients Urging Them To Vote For Politicians Committed To Undermining Obamacare. A “Doctor Letter to Patients,” provided for download by Docs 4 Patient Care, states, “As your family doctor, I am asking you to please support political candidates who will fight to follow a simple motto for the next four years: Defund, Repeal, & Replace.” [Doctors 4 Patient Care, accessed 12/10/13]

• Docs 4 Patient Care Founder: “The AMA Tried To Put Us On Notice, Issuing A Statement Warning Doctors Not To Use Their Influence In Political Matters.” According to a statement by Docs 4 Patient Care founder Hal Scherz, published on the Heritage Foundation’s website, “Most important, we deliver this message thousands of times daily to our patients. One of our signature projects has been to take two minutes with our patients at the end of their visit to discuss health care and give them some literature. Some people were appalled that we would do such a thing. The AMA tried to put us on notice, issuing a statement warning doctors not to use their influence in political matters.” [Scherz Statement, 6/14/11]

Edmund F. Haislmaier

Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation

Edmund Haislmaier Is A Senior Research Fellow For Health Policy Studies At The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation’s website identifies Edmund F. Haislmaier as a “Senior Research Fellow, Health Policy Studies.” [Heritage Foundation, accessed 12/10/13]

• Haislmaier Previously Worked For Pfizer. According to the Heritage Foundation, “Before rejoining Heritage in 2005 as a research fellow, Haislmaier worked as a health policy consultant from 1998-2004 and was director of health care policy in Pfizer Inc.’s Corporate Strategic Planning and Policy division from 1994-1997.” [Heritage Foundation, accessed 12/10/13]

Edmund Haislmaier Was One Of The Heritage Foundation Scholars Who First Proposed A Health Insurance Mandate In 1989. According to the Center for Public Integrity, “The idea of the mandate dates back to 1989 when Stuart Butler and Edmund Haislmaier of the Heritage Foundation proposed it in an article entitled, A National Health System in America. The moniker Responsible National Health Insurance debuted two years later when economists Mark Pauly, Patricia Danzon, Paul Feldstein and attorney John Hoff expounded on the idea in an article published first by the Heritage Foundation and, in an expanded version, by AEI in 1992.” [Center for Public Integrity, 10/20/11 ]

• Haislmaier Testified In 2009 That “Personal Responsibility” Measures Encouraging Individuals To Obtain Health Coverage Rely On A “Sound” Principle. According to Haislmaier’s testimony at a House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health hearing titled “Issues in Health Insurance Market Reform,” “Second, if the conditional guaranteed issue provisions I described above are to be extended to the non-group market, lawmakers will want to consider also adding ‘personal responsibility’ provisions to the reforms. In Massachusetts, that took the form of the legislature requiring all residents to obtain health insurance coverage, and unless otherwise exempted from that requirement, pay a fine if they fail to do so. While such an individual mandate to buy coverage has raised philosophical objections, as well as some practical difficulties in defining and enforcing it, I would note that it is not the only option available to lawmakers. Indeed, then Governor Romney’s original proposal would have allowed individuals to fulfill their ‘personal responsibility’ requirement in other ways, such as by setting aside money to pay for their own medical care. Regardless of the mechanism the basic principle is the same, and it is a sound one. Namely, if lawmakers are going to reform health insurance markets to make coverage portable and accessible for all, further provide all individuals with a wide choice of coverage options, and finally, ensure that those with lower incomes have sufficient financial help to buy coverage, than citizens have no excuses left for not obtaining coverage, or otherwise paying for the medical treatments that they and their dependents receive.” [Haislmaier Testimony, 3/17/09]

Haislmaier Helped Develop Health Care Reform In Massachusetts. According to NPR, “Ed Haislmaier, of the The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington think tank, which helped frame the legislation — agrees with Romney. For proof of the plan’s worth, Haislmaier says, critics should look at who passed it: a Republican governor and a Democrat-dominated House.” [NPR, 5/8/06]

• Haislmaier On Massachusetts’ Health Care Reform: “Rather Than Focus On The Bill’s Politically Galvanizing ‘Mandates,’ Policymakers And Pundits Should Step Back And Look At The Big Picture Of This Landmark Reform.” In an op-ed for the Washington Post Edmund Haislmaier wrote, “Rather than focus on the bill’s politically galvanizing ‘mandates,’ policymakers and pundits should step back and look at the big picture of this landmark reform. The key element is the new, statewide ‘Connector,’ a private, state-chartered clearinghouse where workers in businesses with 50 or fewer employees — and any other individual seeking insurance — can purchase coverage. A small business simply designates the Connector as its group health insurance plan, and its workers can then choose from the menu of health plans the Connector offers.” [Edmund Haislmaier Op-Ed – Washington Post, 5/4/06]

Haislmaier Testified Before Congress That Obamacare Was Likely “To Reduce Competition” Among “Commercial Health Insurers.” According to Haislmaier’s testimony at a House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition and the Internet hearing titled “Health Care Consolidation and Competition after PPACA,” “The PPACA significantly expands, both in scope and in detail, the federal regulation of commercial health insurers. A number of its provisions are likely, over time, to reduce competition in that sector. The reduction in competition will result from provisions in the PPACA that standardize coverage, increase premiums, raise barriers to market entry, and encourage industry consolidation.” [Haislmaier Testimony, 5/18/12]

Huffington Post: Haislmaier “Attacked” A Protestor Holding A Camera At A Campaign To Fix The Debt Event. According to the Huffington Post, “A conservative scholar at the Heritage Foundation, Edmund F. Haislmaier, attacked a nonprofit employee Tuesday morning in a hotel where both men were attending an event sponsored by the Campaign to Fix the Debt. The incident, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel downtown, occurred after Burke Stansbury, of the Seattle-based nonprofit Campaign for Community Change, and about 20 other progressive activists interrupted a speech by Republican Sen. Rob Portman (Ohio) to encourage the senator to protect Social Security and Medicare in fiscal cliff negotiations. Stansbury told The Huffington Post that Haislmaier followed him and his group out of the conference room, where video shows Haislmeier screaming, ‘No! No! No no no no! No! Nonono! No! I was invited on this panel … No no no no! No! These people, these people are screwing things up for my kids!’ […]As Haislmaier yelled, “‘And I’m not, I’m not…,'” Stansbury said, “he grabbed my wrist and then grabbed the camera and pulled the camera out of my hand and it fell to the floor.” The video shows the camera hitting the floor, after which it stops filming. At this point, according to witnesses, two hotel security guards stepped in and forcibly restrained Haislmaier.” [Huffington Post, 12/4/12]

Dr. Patricia McLaughlin, M.D.

Opthamologist, New York City

New York Post Interviewed Patricia McLaughlin For Negative Story On Obamacare. According to the New York Post, “Eye doctor Patricia McLaughlin has been blindsided by ObamaCare — twice. The Upper East Side ophthalmologist just got word that Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield has excluded her from its network of doctors to serve patients enrolled in its new individual and small-group medical policies under the Affordable Care Act.” [New York Post, 11/25/13]

• McLaughlin Appeared On Fox News To Discuss New York Post Story. [Fox News, 11/26/13]