Just when we were trying to get our attention back on flood-protection infrastructure and coastal restoration . . .

We try to get along nice with everyone, but still we were surprised to receive a “Dear Friend” e-mail from Louisiana’s Republican senator David Vitter (as distinct from the other Louisiana senator who just votes like a Republican half the time). It was dated April 1, but we don’t think it was an April Fool’s joke. Was Mr. Vitter writing to say “sorry I took up so much time trying to stall passage of the health reform bill in the Senate last week with frivolous, unworkable legislation”? No, silly, he was writing to assure us that he has already filed a bill to repeal “Obamacare” because “In the face of tremendous public outrage and bipartisan opposition, the president and liberal politicians in Congress violated the Constitution and ignored the will of American people.” [full text below] Wow, are there really that many liberals in Congress?

The second paragraph reads in full:

This newly-signed law is packed full of policies the American people overwhelmingly and loudly rejected. We know it will add to our already enormous national deficit, increase the burden on American families by enacting job-killing taxes and put the government between patients and their doctors. This bill’s mandates are unconstitutional, and the process by which it was passed disrespects not only the will of the public, but also our legislative process. Worst of all, this bill insults and disregards the traditions that have made our country great—limited government, personal responsibility and individual freedom.

As usually happens with these assurances and appeals from politicians, the message is filled with scare language and hot-button terms (“government takeover of health care” and “job-killing taxes”) to alarm and enrage the reader, the paragraphs stocked with “facts” that are not based in reality. No references to studies, commissions’ findings—just assertions that repeat what the reader has already been taught to fear must be true. We know your code words: “government takeover” is anything that is not 100% private. (The term sounds so much more frightening than “publicly funded” or “taxpayer-supported.”) But the HCR leaves the private system intact, does not introduce a public option or single-payer system that the “liberals” really wanted—and, anyway, if the 100% private system had been working so well, why are over 40 million people without any health insurance at all and why are those who do have it being dropped or barred for “preexisting conditions” and going bankrupt?

It would take forever to rebut every one of Vitter’s assertions—many of which are too vague to refute effectively—but we’ll take on a few points.

First of all, Senator, regarding “the traditions that have made our country great—limited government, personal responsibility and individual freedom”: The last two poll-tested buzzwords don’t sound so bad, but from our point of view, “limited government” in a Great Recession doesn’t do the trick. “Limited government” wasn’t what America needed in 1932 and 1933 and the years following, and so it isn’t today. “Limited government” doesn’t jump-start job-creation, as our millions of unemployed need urgently. “Limited government,” too, is part of the reason why the Army Corps of Engineers did not have enough financial support to make the robust flood protection our beloved but endangered state needed one particularly windy morning in late August 2005—and the same was true of FEMA. We want more generous government, but intelligently and responsibly managed—and less military expenditure. But, we digress. Back to health care reform:

Benefits for small businesses. Far from “killing jobs,” Senator, this HCR legislation is intended to make it easier for small businesses to hire new workers through incentives, including a new small business tax credit retroactively effective January 1, 2010, to provide a 35% tax credit on health premiums; this credit will rise to 50% in 2014. (Small businesses generally pay considerably more than large businesses for the same coverage.) Over the next 10 years $40 billion in tax credits will be extended to many of the four million or so small business with fewer than 25 employees. This will help business owners focus on serving their customers and hiring new workers instead of being crushed by constantly escalating health insurance premiums (increases range from 20 to 40 percent annually). Further, as White House economist Gene Sperling points out, small businesses and nonprofits with 100 employees or fewer will be eligible to participate in the new health exchanges and have access to wider choices and greater bargaining power with simplified paperwork and lowered administrative costs. It has been estimated that without health care reform, small business owners would pay as much as $2.4 trillion over the next decade, and their employees would lose as much as $834 billion in wages resulting from escalating health costs. (SmallBusinessMajority.org)

We must listen to the American people and start over with smaller, targeted bills that offer real solutions and reduce costs, like allowing individuals to buy insurance across state lines at the most competitive price, providing coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, and putting the patient in charge of their own health care.

The HCR passed by the House and Senate (without your vote) does expand coverage “regardless of pre-existing conditions”—that was one of President Obama and the Democrats’ central aims. “Putting the patient in charge of their own health care” is a laudable aim as long as it doesn’t mean “you’re on your own,” which is where over 40 million without insurance, and millions more with insurance, have been for years and years, including nearly a decade when Republicans owned the Congress and the White House—if you’re so concerned, why didn’t you all act then? (Let’s talk about the Medicare expansion act of 2003 below.) And then, about buying insurance “across state lines,” this too sounds unobjectionable, but there are serious reasons for skepticism. Consumer watchdog groups and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners suspect “the provision would erode many state government consumer protections, leave policyholders people with inadequate coverage and could actually lead to higher premiums for some people,” according to Kaiser Health News.

I offered an amendment that would put affordable drugs within the reach of ordinary Americans by allowing the reimportation of cheaper prescription medicines.

This sounds good, too, but . . . did you press for reimportation in the Republican-led Medicare expansion act of 2003? You voted for that bill. As you surely know, that legislation allowed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to veto importation of drugs from Canada, which is precisely what happened. Further, the conservative Heritage Foundation in 2002 made some fairly solid arguments about “why drug reimportation is bad policy.” Also, Senator, you voted for that Medicare expansion bill (over Democratic opposition) even though it was projected to add some half a trillion dollars to the already massive federal deficit. That bill was not paid for; the current legislation that you deride as “Obamacare” is not only paid for, but it is the biggest deficit reduction legislation passed since the 1990s, and it is estimated by the Congressional Budget Office that it “will produce a net reduction in federal deficits of $143 billion over the 2010-2019 period” and reduce the federal deficit by $1.2 trillion over the following decade.

Sorry, Mr. Vitter. You’re welcome to keep calling us “Dear Friend,” but we’re not going to feel the love as long as you try to frighten us with lies about the content of the health reform legislation—really a middle-of-the-road package that contains many Republican ideas and is much like the reforms supported and signed into law in Massachusetts by then Republican governor Mitt Romney. This new law is not going to be repealed. Despite all the money spent by industry and lobbyists to distort and frighten, the public is going to see how these reforms help them—by banning restrictive annual limits on coverage, ending rescissions, helping close the “donut hole” for seniors—and the voters will like it. You can keep trying to raise money by promising to roll back the law, but ultimately the effort will be futile and possibly damaging to GOP electoral interests, as several of your Republican colleagues in the Senate are already acknowledging.

So, what’s your next fund-raising idea?

*

As promised, Senator Vitter’s e-mail in full:

Dear Friend,

Last week when Congress rammed Obamacare through to passage and the president signed the legislation into law, liberals boldly proved that they haven’t been listening to the American people.   In the face of tremendous public outrage and bipartisan opposition, the president and liberal politicians in Congress violated the Constitution and ignored the will of American people.  This government takeover of health care must be repealed, and at the first chance I had, I filed a bill in the U.S. Senate to do just that.

This newly-signed law is packed full of policies the American people overwhelmingly and loudly rejected.  We know it will add to our already enormous national deficit, increase the burden on American families by enacting job-killing taxes and put the government between patients and their doctors.  This bill’s mandates are unconstitutional, and the process by which it was passed disrespects not only the will of the public, but also our legislative process.  Worst of all, this bill insults and disregards the traditions that have made our country great – limited government, personal responsibility and individual freedom.

We must reform health care in a way that honors those values.  Obamacare clearly does not do that, and that’s why I called for a repeal of this legislation at the first chance I had.  We must listen to the American people and start over with smaller, targeted bills that offer real solutions and reduce costs, like allowing individuals to buy insurance across state lines at the most competitive price, providing coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions, and putting the patient in charge of their own health care.  And we should do it without raising taxes or placing penalties on individuals or small businesses.

To that end, last week I introduced two common-sense solutions that would reform health care without compromising Americans’ freedom to make their own health care choices.   I offered an amendment that would put affordable drugs within the reach of ordinary Americans by allowing the reimportation of cheaper prescription medicines.  And I also offered legislation that would expand access to mobile mammography services, giving thousands more women a fighting chance to combat breast cancer through early detection.  This is a reform that actually brings health care to folks without a sweeping government takeover.

I remain committed to reforming health care with measures like these that truly fix the system through clear and concise solutions without threatening our nation’s prosperity and freedom.  The American people won’t stand for this government takeover of health care, and I will do everything in my power to repeal it and reverse the damage.

Sincerely,

David Vitter
U.S. Senator