Blog Entries tagged 'Health Care Reform'

Forcing Americans To Buy What They Don't Want

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed with Ed Meese and Steven Calabresi in the Chicago Tribune. -Staff

Parents across America tell their kids that what matters is how you play the game, not whether you win or lose. Ordinary Americans know that the ends do not justify the means, that playing by the rules is more important than simply getting your way. We would be much better off if America's political leaders were more like America's parents.

Most Americans reject the [...]

Don't Let The Facts Get In The Way

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the National Review. -Staff

Faced with plummeting public support, the White House is engaged in a scorched-earth PR campaign to justify its failure to listen to the majority of the American people who oppose this $2.5 trillion health-care bill. They've even started attacking my opposition to the unconstitutional federal individual mandate citing legislation that was introduced as an alternative to Hillarycare back in the 1990s.

[...]

Don't Be Fooled - Senate Health Bill Includes Taxpayer Funding Of Abortion

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed on FoxNews.com. -Staff

In a mad rush to pass a health care reform plan leading House Democrats now intend to take up the Senate-passed version of the bill, arguing that the Senate language prohibits federal funding of abortion. Besides that fact that this simply not true, it also demonstrates the lengths the president and his allies will take to pass this bill against the will of the American people.

For almost 35 years, the law of [...]

Reconciliation On Health Care Would Be An Assault To The Democratic Process

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the Washington Post. -Staff

America's Founders gave us a system of governance designed to limit government power and maximize liberty. The legislative branch is different from the executive, and the Senate is different from the House. No single branch has all the power. That can be frustrating for those with ambitious agendas, but everyone benefits by respecting those checks and balances even as we fight over policies.

While [...]

Americans Deserve Affordable Care

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the Deseret News. -Staff

Health care reform is a critical national issue that must transcend political labels and parties. It should be guided by the voices of the American people, who expect Congress to work together to solve this challenge in an open, bipartisan and fiscally prudent manner. If we take a realistic approach, we can achieve responsible health care reform that enjoys support on both sides of the aisle.

America [...]

Start From Scratch

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in USA Today. -Staff

Obama's big-government proposal attempts to do too much, too fast.

Americans want health care reform that reduces costs and provides affordable access. But they also worry about preserving quality, improving a struggling economy and reducing the nation's unsustainable debt. Amid this uncertainty, we should be careful not to do too much too fast, risking mistakes of lasting consequence.

The pre [...]

State Of The Union Address: Will The Rhetoric Match The Policy?

orrinhatchforsenate+staff@gmail.com — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the National Review. -Staff

Tomorrow night, President Obama will head to the Capitol to deliver his State of the Union address to the nation. While it is sure to include the rhetorical flourishes and impeccable delivery that President Obama is renowned for, I fear it will unfortunately be dominated by populist rhetoric instead of the actual policies the administration is pushing behind closed doors -- away from the scrutiny of the Ame [...]

Healthcare Legislation Is A Threat To Liberty

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed with Mark Shurtleff in the LA Times. -Staff

Congress is ignoring the Constitution by requiring all Americans to buy health insurance and ordering states to establish health benefit exchanges to run the new federal healthcare system.

The House and Senate have passed their respective versions of the legislation to take over the healthcare system, and a common bill is being hammered out, once again behind closed doors. The essenti [...]

Is Health Care Reform Bill Unconstitutional?

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed with Mark Shurtleff in the Salt Lake Tribune. -Staff

The legislation being crafted in Washington to take over the health care system is not only bad policy for Utah and America but a threat to liberty itself. It undermines the rights of both individual Americans and states. We will work together, fighting on both political and legal fronts, to prevent this big-government plan from unconstitutionally expanding federal power and control ov [...]

Why The Health-Care Bills Are Unconstitutional

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed with J. Kenneth Blackwell and Kenneth A. Klukowski in the Wall Street Journal. -Staff

President Obama's health-care bill is now moving toward final passage. The policy issues may be coming to an end, but the legal issues are certain to continue because key provisions of this dangerous legislation are unconstitutional. Legally speaking, this legislation creates a target-rich environment. We will focus on three of its more glaring constitu [...]

Cold, Hard Numbers On Health Reform Point To Out-Of-Control Spending

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the Deseret News. -Staff

We, as a nation, are standing at historic crossroads. Despite growing opposition from the American people, the Democratic majority continues their brazen efforts to jam through a 2,074-page edict before Christmas day that will impact every American life and every American business. The most disturbing part of this exercise is that it is a bill that is yet to be seen in its entirety. Major sections of this bill [...]

Don't Allow Federal Funds For Abortion

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed on CNN.com. -Staff

The Democratic health care proposal being debated in the Senate not only contains large new taxes, enormous government expansion and huge spending, but I'm convinced it also seeks to allow federal funding for abortion -- something 61 percent of Americans do not support, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey.

Recently, the House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill containing language [...]

On Health Care, A Vote To End Debate Is A Vote For The Bill

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in Human Events. -Staff

The federal government takeover of America's health care system is under way. Whatever form it finally takes, Americans need to know what is being done to them and who is responsible.

Everything the Senate or the House does has two parts, process and substance. In the Senate, for example, debate on a bill must end before there can be a vote on the bill itself. When there might be enough votes to pass a co [...]

Unconstitutional

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as a letter to the editor in the Politico. -Staff

There are many very serious reasons to oppose the government takeover of America's health care system. But before debating whether Congress should take this step, we must first determine whether Congress may do so. In "Health Care Reform Is Constitutional" on Oct. 23, professor Erwin Chemerinsky wrote in POLITICO that "there is no doubt that bills passed by House and Senate committees are constitu [...]

What Congress Can't Require

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as a letter to the editor in the Washington Post. -Staff

Alec MacGillis's article about the details of how health-reform legislation would require Americans to purchase health insurance ignored whether the Constitution allows that requirement at all ["If you build a coverage mandate, will they come?," front page, Oct. 26].

The Supreme Court has expanded Congress's authority to regulate interstate commerce itself to include "activities that [...]

Constitution Doesn't Allow For Health Insurance Mandate

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the St. George Spectrum. -Staff

"If men were angels," James Madison once wrote, "no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary." America's founders understood the nature of both human beings and the governments they create and knew that ordered liberty requires limited government. That principle is critical in the current debate over healt [...]

Politics Of Health Care Legislation Endanger Constitutional Liberties

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in Investor's Business Daily. -Staff

The health care bills moving through Congress raise a host of contentious policy issues. But provisions in the bill before the Senate Finance Committee also test whether politics trumps the Constitution.

The liberty we enjoy in America requires limits on government power, and those limits come primarily from the Constitution. Our written Constitution delegates only certain powers to t [...]

Above All, Do No Harm

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the Washington Times. -Staff

I have always believed one of the major purposes of health care reform is to lower the costs of medical expenses to American families. Therefore, I was dismayed when an already bad health care reform bill in the Senate Finance Committee was made worse by the addition last week of a new tax increase that would largely hit the sick and the elderly.

The proposal, added as part of a last-m [...]

Health-Care Plan Presents Problems

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in the Deseret News. -Staff

The greatest opportunity offered by real health-care reform is lower costs facing Americans. At the outset of the health-care debate, members of Congress in both parties, as well as President Barack Obama, held out this promise. Unfortunately, after several months of attempted negotiations and a highly partisan prime-time speech by the president, genuine bipartisan reform has thus far failed. When it be [...]

Democrats' Proposals Cost Too Much, Rely On Big Government

orrinhatchforsenate+hatch@gmail.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The following originally appeared as an op-ed in USA Today. -Staff

Affordable and quality health care for every American is neither a Republican nor a Democratic issue -- it is an American issue. Unfortunately, the current health care bills before Congress are too partisan, too expensive and too big-government for most Americans to support.

As congressional Democrats inch towards going it alone on health reform, I ask them to do what American families are demanding -- s [...]