WASHINGTON   –  U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) cast votes against a health care overhaul and further amendments to the package late this evening, saying the legislation poses dangers and costs to an American system in which patients value their direct relationships with health care providers.

“I feel very strongly about making our system of health care stronger, improving access, lowering costs, and preserving high standards of care for future generations,” Emerson said.  “Unfortunately, the legislation voted on this evening will undermine providers, increase costs, and massively expand federal government’s role in the health decisions of everyone in the country.”

Of special concern to Emerson are government-set reimbursement rates to health care providers who serve senior citizens.

“To rural health care professionals, these reimbursement rates represent the difference between staying in business and closing their doors.  Without adequate reimbursement of their costs to serve Medicare participants and Medicaid beneficiaries, our providers could be forced to stop seeing these patients,” Emerson warned.  “When we talk about access and reform, we must remember that this bill has untold and unintended consequences for millions of Americans.”

Emerson has proposed numerous reforms to lower costs and expand access, particularly in rural areas like Southern Missouri.       

“We need to work with employers, especially small businesses, to help provide insurance.  This bill, however, adds a $2,000 penalty for each employee such a business cannot afford to insure.  The expansion of Medicare taxes in this bill to non-wage income will affect Americans now and even more severely in the future.  The total tax increase in the bill adds up to more than $540 billion, and the legislation places some 16 million Americans in the Medicaid program.  Instead, we should focus on ways to bring competitive insurance products into new markets and help small business owners provide more and better options to their employees and their families.  And we should reform the insurance market without adding giveaways to states and industries who strike special interest deals with the federal government,” Emerson said.

The Eighth District Representative saved her harshest criticism for the prescription drug portion of the bill.

“We ought to have much more competition in the prescription drug industry, the most sheltered and most purely profitable in the country.  Access to low-cost prescriptions sold in other countries, negotiations for the bulk purchases made by taxpayers, and more and faster pathways for generic medications are just a start.  Nothing in this bill tonight makes me believe Americans will have an easier time affording the medicines they rely on for their good health; in fact, the presence of special deals for special interests like the name-brand pharmaceutical industry indicate to me that the situation will get worse instead of better,” Emerson added.