Teague needs to vote against health-care bill
Steve Pearce (Photo by Heath Haussamen)
The vote on the health-care legislation is expected to occur this week as soon as Speaker Pelosi secures the 216 votes needed to pass the House. New Mexico Congressman Harry Teague is one of the last undecided House Democrats whose vote will decide whether or not the health care bill passes.
Congressman Teague says he hasn’t decided how he’ll vote on this bill. But what Congressman Teague needs to remember is that he represents the interests of New Mexicans, and this health-care legislation will have severe, negative impacts.
I support health-care reform efforts to improve our system. It affects the financial, physical and mental health of New Mexicans. However, along with many New Mexicans, I do not support the current health-care legislation. A government-run health care program poses threats to hard-working Americans and their access to health care.
Ultimately this health-care bill will destroy jobs in New Mexico and raise taxes on families and small businesses. In an already struggling economy, New Mexico cannot afford to shoulder the additional financial burden of government-run health care.
In addition to increased taxes and job loss, the health-care bill will cut Medicare by $500 billion, slashing the care that seniors currently receive. It will add $500 billion to the federal deficit by 2024 and radically increase government spending. The bill will even force people out of the existing health coverage they like.
Uninsured individuals will be required to pay $8,500 to buy policies, or face a 2.5 percent fine on their income if they don’t get insurance. People will be sent to jail if they don’t pay their fines. In summary, the health care bill is a disaster.
We need commonsense changes
All this being said, finding affordable health care is a real concern. I realize the health-care debate has been dragging on for a long time and many people are ready for an answer. But a one-size-fits-all government-run health care system is not a solution. We need commonsense changes that will lower costs and increase access.
We need to start over with health-care reform and make small, incremental fixes. We need to implement lawsuit-abuse protection and extend coverage to individuals with pre-existing conditions at reasonable prices. We need to encourage health savings accounts that can be used at any age for medical costs, including premiums, deductibles, office visits and prescriptions. Allow portability of policies from one job to the next and allow competition across state lines to lower mandates that keep insurance costs so high. Association health plans are also a good idea that was blocked by Democrats during the six years while I was in Congress.
The New York Times recently reported that the congressmen who fall in line and help Nancy Pelosi pass the health care bill will receive top priority for campaign cash.
It is not too late to change the future of our health-care system. It is not too late to tell Congressman Harry Teague that we want him to vote NO on the current health care legislation. We need to let him know our concerns: the economy, jobs, and the out-of-control government spending. Remind him that he represents New Mexico, not any political party, not Nancy Pelosi and certainly not his own special interests.
Pearce is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He is seeking election to New Mexico’s Second District.
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Mr. Pearce is full of advice on health care.
Now, how about Stimulus Money.
Should New Mexico tell the Federal Government to take back the $8.1 million being provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the runways at the Las Cruces Airport, or should we charge that to our grandchildren?
Your advice Mr. Pearce?
Well, Mr. Pearce, Congressan Teague did exactly as you asked–so I guess the ethical thing for you to do now would be to abandon your bid to take away his seat , LOL!
Thinker, I find your comments and attitude typical of the endemic mindset of progressives these days. Whenever anyone disagrees and has different opinions about politics or policy, it must be the result of ignorance, stupidity, or lack of education. It cannot be a simple difference of opinion, world view, personal experiences, or interpretations of subjective data. I find this curious and disheartening, as it is hard to have a dialogue with people who think you stupid, ignorant, and uneducated. The majority of Americans who do not want to see ObamaCare passed have read the bills, and have processed the good and bad parts to form a view. So have the minority who want ObamaCare passed. I do not consider those who disagree with my view of it stupid, ignorant, or uneducated. They simply disagree with my opinions of it. That diversity of view, opinion, and interpretations of subjective data is what makes America the great country it is. Why is it you and other progressives who are vehemently in favor of ObamaCare can’t accept this as differences of opinion and celebrate our differences and diversity and use it as a way to dialogue with your fellow citizens to bring us together as a nation instead of dividing and polarizing us?
The problem with the Health Care bill is that the taxpayers will not be able to afford it, it will put us in debt for generations to come, it is a government takeover of our lives and last when has the government ever been able to do anything and get it right.
The government could not run the North Ranch when it took it over for non-payment of taxes; a bar and cathouse in Nevada that almost runs itself, and has always been a moneymaker. How can you now expect the government to run something as complex as Health Care and make it work.
Take a look at the mess Social Security and Medicare is in, and then ask yourself if they have the answers. They want to take away something that would be workable if taken out of the General Fund and allowed to stand on its own, without the legislature borrowing from it and never paying back the loans they take.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Health Care bill is not the problem. The problem stems from the ludicrous amounts of money awarded on lawsuits against hospitals and doctors for malpractice. Cap those awards, make them reasonable and the cost of health care will go down.
I agree with Steve Pearce, Teague should vote AGAINST the Obama Health Care bill, because it is a piece of garbage that will bankrupt our country and force millions of Americans into a system that is a trap, if it passes.
Teague can’t see the forest for the trees and neither can the Progressive Democrats in Congress. They are like sheep following a lead goat. Every time Obama, or Pelosi bleats, they follow. They can’t seem to think for themselves.
After reading the many editorial posts and commenters here at Heath’s site who are so vehemently against this health care bill, I am astonished to realize that the majority of you are so horribly misinformed about what it does and does not legislate.
I would at least think that if one is going to make statements such as that “this bill amounts to a government takeover of health care”, or that passing it will cost the US money rather than improve our GNP, you would at least go to one of the many NEUTRAL news and analysis websites (not Glenn Beck or Faux) and actually read what it consists of. There are many, many important changes in this bill that will greatly help even those of you who were too lazy to do your research but who are facing your own personal health care crisis on the horizon.
When this bill passes, and you don’t end up in financial ruin in order to treat your cancer or a sudden heart attack because your health insurance company tried to deny your eligibility for coverage in some scheming, deceptive and cruel way, thank Democrats Who Passed the Bill.
When you walk into the Emergency Department waiting room and realize that the people there will actually be able to pay your hospital for their services rather than your county’s taxpayer funded Indigent Care program, thank Democrats Who Passed the Bill.
When you aren’t forced to direct all of your increased profits from your successful small business on health insurance premiums for your family or your employees (which are going through the roof) thank Democrats Who Passed the Bill.
When your elderly parents find they don’t have a “donut hole” of non-coverage for their pharmaceuticals just when they are diagnosed with COPD or diabetes, thank Democrats Who Passed the Bill.
When you can change jobs freely or move around the country to obtain better economic opportunity without the fear of not being able to find health insurance, thank Democrats Who Passed the Bill.
And those are just a few of the infinite number of scenarios the taxpayer will see a reduction in government spending on because people will have decent health insurance coverage they can afford. Hopefully, over the next few years, our nation will continue to refine and improve the healthcare system in this nation, but this is just a decent, realistic start.
The current healthcare reform legislature amounts to nothing more than the furtherence of govermental takeover of our lives. I hope Harry Teague casts one of his last votes in Congress against this bill. Teague is the one who has rubberstamped all socialist policies of the current Obama administration along with Heinrich and Lujan and Senators Udall and Bingaman. My children slept safely under the protection provided by President Bush and Congressman Pearce. I will enjoy writing a check to the Pearce for Congress Campaign so we can hopefully return to the commonsense conservative approach to government. This railroading of our country with this governement takeover of our healthcare is the deathnell of the Obama administration.
People remain uninsured because they want to be…health insurance is amongst life’s basic decisions, you decide you want it or not and then you pay for it. No handouts and no namby pamby government should go around making sure everyone has a pot in which to urinate in. People (especially in this state) need to learn to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps and not wait for Uncle Sam (financed by the people who actually do work) to give them a handout or a government forced umbrella or safety net.
Apparently Steve Pierce didn’t get the message in the 2008 election. Hopefully, he’ll spend many hundreds of thousands of his oil-based money this year in another failed attempt to have New Mexico return to the disaster of the George W. Bush lost years.
Whoo-eee! Don’t you love it?? Harry Teague NEEDS to do this and NEEDS to do that. Atta boy, Stevie, that’s the old attitude we’d almost forgotten.
Sure is one difference between these two boys: one respectful, listens, treats people right, the other one arrogant, hostile & know-it-all.
Can you imagine where REP Pearce would have told anyone to stick it if they dared give HIM orders? Gonna get fun!!
I well remember the lies Pearce and his fact-mangling henchmen told us during his “Social Security listening tour” in Alamogordo. He wanted to throw us all to the Wall Street wolves. Thank goodness that didn’t happen.
Everytime I see your face, Mr. Pearce, I am reminded of the 8 years we spent in reverse under the Bush Administration and your automatic “yes” vote on every single one of their marching orders.
You’re editorial only confirms for me why you will never be re-elected: you merely mouth the talking points of the latest money-funding Republican lever-pullers.
Where to start…? Although I think it’s fine that Steve Pearce have space to post his views on health care reform here on NM Politics, is there no editorial oversight fact-checking his claims? This op-ed is so filled with distortions and lies that I’m actually surprised you ran it.
The just-released CBO preliminary report shows that the reconciliation bill to be voted on in the house will reduce the deficit $130 billion in the next decade AND a total of $1.2 trillion over 20 years. It does not, as Pearce claims, “add $500 billion to the federal deficit by 2024.” (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/87557-cbo-health-package-costs-940-billion-cuts-deficit-by-130b)
This legislation also does not constitute “government-run health care.” There’s no public option! What it does is extend insurance to everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions, give subsidies to those who can’t afford to buy insurance on their own, and mandate everyone to buy insurance or face a penalty (which, despite Pearce’s maligning of the idea, is necessary in order to keep insurance solvent. Otherwise, many would choose not to get insurance until they got sick, driving up costs and destroying the concept of insurance.)
Harry Teague voted against the House bill in the fall because it didn’t do enough to control costs. The Senate/reconciliation bill is much stronger on that issue. Pearce’s lies don’t take away from the fact that this is a major effort to deal with our long-term deficit problems while simultaneously making our broken health care system much more fair. It’s not a perfect bill, by any means, but Teague would be both fiscally and morally responsible to vote in favor of this bill. I hope he does.
Why would Mr. Pearce this former Congressman want to provide healthcare for the poor and the people who can’t afford it. This is hypocritical! This former Congressman gets a 100 percent covered plan for him and his family for life along with an excellent pension plan for life – $65,000 per year.
Why doesn’t he denounce these healthcare benefits – not likely!
Also Pearce had a poor record regarding health issues. In all his years as a Congressman he did absolutely NOTHING regarding healthcare. He was too busy supporting the Bush policies on the economy, housing and Iraq. He is all special interests making a killing his stock deal with Key Energy . If you are a woman, forget it . For instance, the National Breast Cancer Coalition gave him zero for breast cancer research – the poorest record in Congress! How could any woman vote for this guy?
I guess Mr. Pearce wants to bring back the golden age of the Bush Administration – that is a joke.