Renacci discusses health care legislation during town hall meeting
When Jim Renacci, the newly elected representative to the U.S. House of Representatives from the 16th Congressional District, held a town hall meeting in Wooster Jan. 31, one issue dominated the conversation with his constituents.
Health care.
During the 90 minute event, constituents voiced diverse opinions on the health care legislation passed by Congress in 2009, which the House recently voted to repeal.
One resident expressed her concern about “repealing the small hopeful steps that have been made for health care for people with preexisting conditions, for people who are self-employed or unemployed.”
“I don’t see the need to repeal, other than a partisan agenda, and it disturbs me. I don’t like what I see,” she said.
Renacci reiterated the position he took during the campaign about the sweeping 2,000 page bill, noting “when I ran a campaign for almost a year and a half there wasn’t a day that I didn’t say that if you elected me I was going to go down there and vote for repeal.
“I believe in some of the issues in the health care bill, but when 85 percent of the house is in bad disarray you’ve got to bring the whole house down and start over again,” said Renacci. “This bill is toxic.
“We do have certain things that are good in the bill…but we could have passed those things in five to seven pages, not 2,000 pages,” said Renacci.
He noted that while he would like to see certain provisions of the bill reinstated, such as those regarding preexisting conditions, “let’s also make sure that we bring back a bill that doesn’t drive costs up and raise premiums.
“I am concerned about the person who doesn’t have insurance, but I’m also concerned about people who aren’t going to have a job because health care premiums are going up,” Renacci added.
“What we’ve done in the current health care bill is to take care of people that we should have taken care of – what I call the safety net. The problem is we haven’t done anything for costs and that’s why we have to get rid of that bill and start all over.”
One way to reduce health care costs is to encourage competition amongst health care insurance providers.
“In the state of Ohio you are lucky to get three or four companies bidding on a plan. That’s the problem,” said Renacci, noting that if the state lines were open Ohioans could receive quotes from more than 1,600 health care insurance providers across the country.
“If you want to bring health care costs down and give everybody the opportunity for affordable health care, bring in more competition, drop the state lines,” said Renacci. “That’s good health care reform because that will bring costs down.”
One audience member asked Renacci what would happen if the Senate refused to repeal the health care bill or if the President were to veto the repeal legislation if the Senate were to pass it.
“If the Senate doesn’t take it up you all have a choice in two years because then you can make a decision with your senators,” said Renacci.
“In the meantime, if the Senate does take it up and they vote to repeal it, then President Obama can override that. If he would do that then you take that up with him in two years. Between now and then we will start to repeal and defund provisions of the health care bill.”
Health care.
During the 90 minute event, constituents voiced diverse opinions on the health care legislation passed by Congress in 2009, which the House recently voted to repeal.
One resident expressed her concern about “repealing the small hopeful steps that have been made for health care for people with preexisting conditions, for people who are self-employed or unemployed.”
“I don’t see the need to repeal, other than a partisan agenda, and it disturbs me. I don’t like what I see,” she said.
Renacci reiterated the position he took during the campaign about the sweeping 2,000 page bill, noting “when I ran a campaign for almost a year and a half there wasn’t a day that I didn’t say that if you elected me I was going to go down there and vote for repeal.
“I believe in some of the issues in the health care bill, but when 85 percent of the house is in bad disarray you’ve got to bring the whole house down and start over again,” said Renacci. “This bill is toxic.
“We do have certain things that are good in the bill…but we could have passed those things in five to seven pages, not 2,000 pages,” said Renacci.
He noted that while he would like to see certain provisions of the bill reinstated, such as those regarding preexisting conditions, “let’s also make sure that we bring back a bill that doesn’t drive costs up and raise premiums.
“I am concerned about the person who doesn’t have insurance, but I’m also concerned about people who aren’t going to have a job because health care premiums are going up,” Renacci added.
“What we’ve done in the current health care bill is to take care of people that we should have taken care of – what I call the safety net. The problem is we haven’t done anything for costs and that’s why we have to get rid of that bill and start all over.”
One way to reduce health care costs is to encourage competition amongst health care insurance providers.
“In the state of Ohio you are lucky to get three or four companies bidding on a plan. That’s the problem,” said Renacci, noting that if the state lines were open Ohioans could receive quotes from more than 1,600 health care insurance providers across the country.
“If you want to bring health care costs down and give everybody the opportunity for affordable health care, bring in more competition, drop the state lines,” said Renacci. “That’s good health care reform because that will bring costs down.”
One audience member asked Renacci what would happen if the Senate refused to repeal the health care bill or if the President were to veto the repeal legislation if the Senate were to pass it.
“If the Senate doesn’t take it up you all have a choice in two years because then you can make a decision with your senators,” said Renacci.
“In the meantime, if the Senate does take it up and they vote to repeal it, then President Obama can override that. If he would do that then you take that up with him in two years. Between now and then we will start to repeal and defund provisions of the health care bill.”
Published: February 14, 2011
