VILAS, N.C. - Last week, under pressure from the Club for Growth and the Heritage Foundation, Republican members of Congress began signing on to a "discharge petition" which would force immediate action on legislation to completely repeal the recently passed health insurance reform law (Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010).
The Club for Growth's government affairs director Andy Roth emailed Republican members with an implied threat that support for repeal "will be considered as a key vote on the Club's annual congressional scorecard," one of the "gold standards" in conservative rankings. Representative Virginia Foxx promptly signed the discharge petition last Tuesday.
Congressional candidate Billy Kennedy issued the following statement:
"Once again, our incumbent Congresswoman shows that she is much more interested in satisfying extremist and powerful special interests than she is in helping the hard working people of Western North Carolina.
"Rep. Foxx has signed on to radical legislation that would immediately repeal every provision in the new health-insurance reform act. A repeal of the bill would return us to the days when insurance companies could refuse to sell insurance policies to people with preexisting conditions. A repeal would mean insurance companies could once again kick people off their health insurance policies when they get sick. A repeal would mean children could no longer stay on their parents' insurance until age 26. A repeal will reopen the Medicare Part D 'Donut Hole,' putting our seniors back into a situation where they can't afford essential medicine.
"There are problems with the health care bill, and I am committed to fixing those problems, but we shouldn't throw the good parts out of the bill just to score political points in an election year.
"I support an optional Medicare buy-in for all Americans at cost. An optional buy-in would not add to the federal deficit, and people could choose to buy a Medicare plan or buy an insurance policy from a private company.
"Repealing the reforms to health-insurance delivery in this country is definitely the wrong direction for the 5th District and for all North Carolinians."
