Democrat Leaders Must Allow CMS Actuary to Ensure Final Legislation Doesnt Drive Up Debt and Harm Consumers" said Senator Hutchison
WASHINGTON D.C. Citing a new analysis from the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that the House-passed bill on health care could increase costs and threaten access as well as drive up deficits and push premiums even higher U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has called on Majority Leader Harry Reid to submit his bill for analysis by CMS before it is introduced in the Senate.
The Senate and the American people deserve to know the full implications of the Reid-Democratic health care bill. This bill was crafted behind closed doors and without any Republican or dissenting opinion" Senator Hutchison said. It would be wrong to ram it through without a full analysis."
Senator Hutchison joined a group of leading Republicans Senators to send a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid requesting that he submit the health care reform bill to the Office of the Actuary at CMS for analysis and make the findings public before bringing the legislation to the Senate floor for consideration.
It is vitally important that we do not make decisions without a complete and thorough analysis of the bill" said Senator Hutchison and her colleagues in the letter. Therefore we would specifically like the Office of the Actuary at CMS to determine if this legislation will bring down health care expenditures over the long term."
The Administrations own Chief Actuary conclusively demonstrated that the Democrats rhetoric about health care has completely diverged from the reality of their bills. Because of severe cuts to Medicare the bill jeopardizes access to care" for seniors and health care shortages and price increases for all consumers is plausible and even probable." The Republican Policy Conference released a fact sheet yesterday demonstrating the Chief Actuarys concerns about Speaker Nancy Pelosis Affordable Health Choices Act.
