Mike Enzi to Sebelius: How can health care law be fixed? PODCAST VIDEO

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., spent the morning asking Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius how she plans to address problems with the health care law. This was Secretary Sebelius’s first appearance in front of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee since her nomination hearing two years ago. Download MP3 for PODCAST and VIDEO in REAL MEDIA FORMAT

“We recognize that there are individuals who will benefit from a few of the provisions in the law, but it will force Americans to buy the type of health insurance that Washington thinks they should have,” Enzi said. “Americans will not have the luxury of picking which parts of the new law apply to them, but instead will have to comply with all 2,700 pages of new mandates, taxes and limitations on their freedom.”

Among the problems Washington has created under the new law, Enzi highlighted:

* Children in 20 states total are not able to get child only health insurance;
* Millions of seniors on Medicare are facing a steep increase in their out-of-pocket costs and more than a $500 billion reduction in benefits; and
* Cash-strapped state governments will be burdened with an additional 16 million Americans forced onto Medicaid rolls, as required by the new law.

“Because of the new law, employers across the country will be forced to lay off workers and reduce wages as their health care costs continue to increase as a result of all the new taxes in the law that will increase their health care costs,” said Enzi. Enzi also said that employers will be required to offer health insurance or pay $52 billion in new taxes.

In the hearing, Enzi provided an example of a disabled Wyoming veteran, covered by veterans’ health benefits, who was unable to purchase health insurance for his children. After the passage of the health care reform law, insurance carriers in Wyoming are no longer writing new child-only health insurance policies.

As the law continues to be implemented, Enzi said he will focus on ways to eliminate the provisions that limit basic freedoms and will work to enact reforms that will focus on increasing consumer choices and decreasing health care costs.

TEXT IMAGE VIDEO and AUDIO: United States Senator Mike Enzi