Dear Mr. Hujsak,
Thank you for contacting me to share your views on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I appreciate hearing from you.
I was not in Congress when it passed the ACA, and, like almost everyone, I recognize that the law is flawed in many ways—no law ever is perfect. This is why I am focused on making sure that we do what we can to fix the law where and whenever needed. Like you, I was frustrated
by the rocky roll-out of ACA, and by the cancellation of health care plans that people had been satisfied with. That’s why I crossed party lines and voted to enforce President Obama’s promise – again and again – that if you like your health care, you can keep it.
The ACA is a massively ambitious effort to remake a broken American healthcare system, and
in many ways it is making progress. It’s prevented insurance companies from denying cover-
age because of preexisting conditions and it’s allowed kids to stay on their families’ plans until they’re 26. It’s moving us away from a system where too many people go to the emergency room for their care or lose their homes because of medical bankruptcy. The California exchange has been successful in enrollment, and the federal website has recovered from its early and serious problems. And if, over time, the ACA can move us from a sick-care system focused on treatment and procedures to a health care system focused on health and prevention, we would save taxpay- ers a lot of money.
There is still a lot of work to be done to make health care affordable. And any of us might have come up with a different approach from the ACA. However, it is folly to think that this law will actually be repealed by the whole Congress, or that the President would agree to start again from scratch. Speaker Boehner himself acknowledged that the ACA is ‘the law of the land.’ It is past time to stop the politics of false solutions like repealing the Affordable Care Act and get Congress to work toward solving the problems the law creates for the people of San Diego, and Americans around the country.
That’s why, over the past two years, I have voted for several measures that address the flaws we’ve seen with the rollout, and provide common-sense fixes to the policy. In each of these cases, I have shown a willingness to buck my own party in order to get the law right. I voted to allow Americans to keep their current health plans. I voted to delay the individual mandate tax until the federal website — which is responsible for enrolling people in 36 states — gets it act together. Finally, to help small businesses and their employees, I voted to change a definition in the law that forces companies to provide healthcare to employees working more than 30 hours a week—the bill I supported would change it to 40 hours.
I’m open to any policy idea—Republican or Democrat—that will make the ACA better for employers, employees and families. I’ve received too many messages from San Diegans about how health care is costing them for me to sit idly. I support policies that increase patient access to care, increase quality, and drive down cost. The ACA is a tremendous undertaking and will require more fixes as we continue to work through its implementation.
Thank you for contacting me to share your views on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). I appreciate hearing from you.
I was not in Congress when it passed the ACA, and, like almost everyone, I recognize that the law is flawed in many ways—no law ever is perfect. This is why I am focused on making sure that we do what we can to fix the law where and whenever needed. Like you, I was frustrated
by the rocky roll-out of ACA, and by the cancellation of health care plans that people had been satisfied with. That’s why I crossed party lines and voted to enforce President Obama’s promise – again and again – that if you like your health care, you can keep it.
The ACA is a massively ambitious effort to remake a broken American healthcare system, and
in many ways it is making progress. It’s prevented insurance companies from denying cover-
age because of preexisting conditions and it’s allowed kids to stay on their families’ plans until they’re 26. It’s moving us away from a system where too many people go to the emergency room for their care or lose their homes because of medical bankruptcy. The California exchange has been successful in enrollment, and the federal website has recovered from its early and serious problems. And if, over time, the ACA can move us from a sick-care system focused on treatment and procedures to a health care system focused on health and prevention, we would save taxpay- ers a lot of money.
There is still a lot of work to be done to make health care affordable. And any of us might have come up with a different approach from the ACA. However, it is folly to think that this law will actually be repealed by the whole Congress, or that the President would agree to start again from scratch. Speaker Boehner himself acknowledged that the ACA is ‘the law of the land.’ It is past time to stop the politics of false solutions like repealing the Affordable Care Act and get Congress to work toward solving the problems the law creates for the people of San Diego, and Americans around the country.
That’s why, over the past two years, I have voted for several measures that address the flaws we’ve seen with the rollout, and provide common-sense fixes to the policy. In each of these cases, I have shown a willingness to buck my own party in order to get the law right. I voted to allow Americans to keep their current health plans. I voted to delay the individual mandate tax until the federal website — which is responsible for enrolling people in 36 states — gets it act together. Finally, to help small businesses and their employees, I voted to change a definition in the law that forces companies to provide healthcare to employees working more than 30 hours a week—the bill I supported would change it to 40 hours.
I’m open to any policy idea—Republican or Democrat—that will make the ACA better for employers, employees and families. I’ve received too many messages from San Diegans about how health care is costing them for me to sit idly. I support policies that increase patient access to care, increase quality, and drive down cost. The ACA is a tremendous undertaking and will require more fixes as we continue to work through its implementation.
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