Aug 15, 2009 4 min read

Health care reform is needed, but Congressional Democrats’ plans are too expensive and would bankrupt the government, U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster said at a luncheon in Uniontown Friday. Shuster, R-Hollidaysburg, told a group of about 45 people at the Fayette Chamber of Commerce Government Affairs Council’s monthly “Conversations With” program that he would prefer giving vouchers to buy insurance to the 8 million who don’t have and can’t afford coverage. President Barack Obama claims 45 million have no insurance, but that number includes 10 million illegal immigrants, 12 million people who are eligible for, but haven’t applied for government programs and 7 million who can afford insurance, but chose not to buy any, Shuster said.

He said Obama’s plan would create a large government program with no cost controls.

“It’s not sustainable. It’s going to bankrupt us,” Shuster said.

Opposition from citizens to Obama’s plan has been evident at recent town hall meetings held by U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and others, Shuster said.

He said he would rather give vouchers to people who can’t afford and do not have access to health care insurance.

“Here’s a voucher. Go out and find some insurance,” Shuster said.

The government should provide incentives to businesses to provide health care benefits to their employees, he said, adding that Obama’s proposal would impose an 18 percent payroll tax on businesses that don’t offer those benefits.

Businesses might stop providing health care benefits if Obama’s proposed government-run program were less expensive, Shuster said.

He said moderate “Blue Dog” Democratic representatives do not support the president’s proposal.

The country’s current health care system is not perfect, but 85 percent of Americans have private insurance and most are happy with it, Shuster said, noting he pays just less than $400 a month for his health insurance.

Shuster said he believes in taking a “piece-by-piece” approach to creating a “smaller and more effective” health care reform initiative.

Obama’s plan would expand Medicaid eligibility, mandate coverage for children, allow the uninsured to buy public or private insurance through a national exchange, provide subsidies to lower-income people and small businesses to defray the cost of buying insurance and tax medium and large employers that don’t offer insurance.

A company could stop providing insurance if it contributes to the national exchange. Small businesses would be exempt from providing coverage and would receive tax credits of up to 50 percent on health care premiums for employees.

On the American Recover and Reinvestment Act, Shuster said he hopes it improves the economy but he doesn’t believe it will. Shuster said he voted against the measure because he thought it was too expensive and wasn’t targeted to improve the economy.

He said only 10 percent of the spending priorities in the $787 billion stimulus package are intended for infrastructure improvements, which promote economic development. He said 25 percent of ARRA money should have been dedicated to infrastructure.

Since the ARRA was adopted in February, $75 billion has been spent, $200 billion has been obligated and $500 million has not been spent or obligated, Shuster said. ARRA funding should be half of what it is, he said.

A lot of the money is intended to expand government programs that do not help the economy, he said.

“It’s debt,” Shuster said, responding to a question about the source of the stimulus money.

The ARRA could also trigger inflation by increasing the volume of money available to buy goods, he said.

The Cap and Trade bill, which the House passed in July, doesn’t have Shuster’s support either.

“I call it the cap and tax bill,” Shuster said. “It won’t do anything.”

Countries such as China and Brazil won’t adhere to provision of the bill so it won’t improve the environment, he said.

It would increase the cost electricity production; result in higher utility bills and cause companies to relocate outside of the country, Shuster said.

The bill does nothing to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil, does not allow for more oil exploration in the United States and doesn’t call for building more nuclear-powered electricity plants, he said.

The bill sets caps on the amount of emissions businesses could produce and creates allowances at the cap levels. Sources producing lower emissions could trade, sell or bank their allowances. Sources emitting more then their allowances would have to buy allowances to cover the excess.

On a separate subject, Shuster said he spent two days in Afghanistan last week to get a look at the U.S. military’s new, more aggressive strategy against the Taliban.

He said the number of American casualties would increase, but noted it was important for the U.S. to be aggressive in dealing with the Taliban.

Beyond Afghanistan, he said the real concern is Pakistan, which has nuclear weapons. He said the U.S. can’t allow the Taliban or Bin Laden to get their hands on nuclear weapons.