Dear Friend:

As you know, Speaker Pelosi and the current majority in the House of Representatives recently introduced H.R. 3962, legislation that attempts to take over one-sixth of the American economy by creating a government run health care system. While I support common sense efforts to reform health care, I strongly oppose the Pelosi bill because it includes more than $700 billion in tax increases on small businesses and others, nearly $400 billion in Medicare cuts, and would provide coverage for abortions and illegal immigrants.

Instead of orchestrating a government takeover of healthcare, Congress should focus on cutting costs so health insurance is less expensive for working families. But unfortunately, according to the Congressional Budget Office this bill will require middle income families to pay 15% to 18% of their income toward health care. At a time when this Administration is running up record budget deficits while Americans are striving to keep their jobs and counting on benefits they’ve already been promised like Social Security and Medicare, this expensive bill – which according to the Congressional Budget office will cost over a trillion dollars – is not the prescription we need.

Furthermore, this legislation would inevitably force many Americans into a government health insurance plan. In fact, non-partisan actuaries estimate that it could lead to as many as 114 million Americans losing their current coverage. A government run system will make health care more expensive, will ration care, and will put bureaucrats in charge of your medical decisions instead of doctors. If you’d like to hear more about my position on H.R. 3962, please visit my website at http://jones.house.gov to view a short YouTube video on the subject. And thank for your interest in this critically important issue.

Sincerely,

Walter B. Jones

Member of Congress