KEY VOTE “NO” ON H.R. 3962: AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR AMERICA ACT

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Dear Representative:                                                                                                            

On behalf of hundreds of thousands of FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to VOTE NO on H.R. 3962, the “Affordable Health Care for America Act” and the fundamental alteration of the American way of life that will accompany it. Over the past year, the American people have turned out in overwhelming numbers to express their opposition to the ideas incorporated in Speaker Pelosi’s (D-Cali.) bill. From April 15^th tea parties to summer town hall meetings to the massive 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington to yesterday’s rally at the Capitol, citizens have shown time and time again that they will not stand for this government intrusion into their lives. Speaker Pelosi has said she is willing to lose Democrat seats in 2010 by forcing moderates to vote for this outrageously unpopular bill. We will do everything we can to make sure your vote is well known in your district.

With skyrocketing unemployment rates and the national deficit reaching levels previously unimaginable, Americans deserve common sense solutions that lower costs without piling debt onto future generations. Unfortunately, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that in order to fund Speaker Pelosi’s health care reform bill, the federal government would have to spend $1.05 trillion over the next ten years. Historically, such attempts to estimate the price of government programs have fallen woefully short of the actual cost of legislation. For example, in 1967 House Ways and Means analysts estimated Medicare would cost $12 billion in 1990. They were wrong—by a staggering factor of 10. The actual spending in 1990 was $110 billion.  Are you about to vote on a $10 trillion bill? 

To pay for this colossal reform bill, this legislation saddles hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes upon the American people and includes major cuts in Medicare for seniors. Analysis of the bill reveals thirteen new taxes that will be paid by Americans either directly in the form of income and excise taxes or indirectly in the form of higher premiums, more expensive medical equipment and lower wages. It also reveals over $500 billion in cuts to Medicare including over $150 billion in cuts from the popular Medicare Advantage plan which one out of every five senior citizens uses to get more benefits than traditional Medicare offers.

Worse still, the bill includes a federal mandate on health insurance which would dramatically alter the relationship between the government and individuals. Under such a mandate, citizens will be forced to purchase insurance simply because they exist. Granting Congress the authority to mandate the purchase of any product abandons all limitations placed upon federal power. A mandate on insurance will fundamentally change our great nation. America will cease to be a country made up of free people who choose their own destiny and will become a country in which the government controls the destiny of individuals. This takes us down the road to serfdom. Such a shift is unacceptable, unconscionable and a complete perversion of the liberties our founders fought and died to protect. 

We will at least DOUBLE WEIGHT your vote on H.R. 3962 as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2009. The Economic Freedom Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the Jefferson Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe

President and CEO