(Washington, DC) - Congressman Baron Hill cast his vote in support of H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, this evening.  In response, Hill issued the following statement this morning:

“As an elected representative I have been tasked with the weighty responsibility of acting as a good steward of the general welfare of my constituents and a good steward of their money.  My vote in support of the Affordable Health Care for America Act is a fulfillment of those responsibilities. 

Out great nation has been debating how to responsibly reform our health care system for decades.  And the debate has grown increasingly important as health costs have escalated sharply – growing at nearly twice the rate of inflation, premiums rising four times faster than wages, and more than 60 percent of bankruptcies due to insurmountable medical bills.  Inaction is both irresponsible and dangerous. 

H.R. 3962 will allow those Hoosiers who work so hard every day but cannot afford health insurance for their families to secure it.  Southern Indiana is currently home to 52,000 uninsured residents – a number that will significantly decrease under this bill. 

H.R. 3962 will allow those Southern Indiana small business owners who tell me daily they want to provide coverage for their employees and cannot afford to, or who currently provide coverage but cannot sustain the rate at which the premiums are so rapidly increasing, to secure it.  In fact, the bill will allow 16,100 small businesses in Southern Indiana to obtain affordable health care coverage for their employees, and will provide tax credits to 14,600 of our small business to help reduce health insurance costs for a similarly significant number. 

H.R. 3962 will allow the 10,900 Ninth District residents who have pre-existing medical conditions to not only secure health coverage, but feel reassured by how the bill caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $5,000 for singles and $10,000 for families and eliminates lifetime limits on insurance coverage. 
This bill also falls in line with my fiscally-conservative beliefs.  Not only has the Congressional Budget Office scored this bill as deficit neutral, but the agency’s analysis finds that it will actually reduce the deficit.  The nonpartisan organization reports that the bill will reduce the deficit by $109 billion between 2010 and 2019, and will also likely reduce deficits in the decade following 2019 by up to one-quarter of one percent of Gross Domestic Product.

My lingering concerns leading up to this evening’s vote have also been addressed.  An amendment authored in part by my Hoosier colleague prohibits any federal funding for abortion.  And, the tax placed on the medical device industry – a significant source of employment in Southern Indiana – has been reduced with more work to be done as the bill progresses.

I would like to thank the fine people of Southern Indiana for contacting my office with their comments, questions and concerns.  As I’ve mentioned over the past few months, I compiled a lengthy list of legislative suggestions during the August District Work Period, and added to that in the interim weeks before this vote.  I would also like to thank them for allowing me to represent them in Congress during this historic vote.”