First Major Action of 112th Congress

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On the House floor Thursday, fourteen Democrats joined House republicans to adopt a measure, 253-175, that instructs four Committees; the Committee on Education and the Workforce, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Ways and Means, to each report legislation to the House of Representatives proposing changes to the health care law within each committee’s jurisdiction.  The legislation must…

  • foster economic growth and private sector job creation,
  • eliminate over burdensome policies and regulations;
  • lower health care premiums through increased competition and choice;
  • preserve a patient’s ability to keep his or her health plan if he or she likes it;
  • provide people with pre-existing conditions access to affordable health coverage;
  • reform the medical liability system to reduce unnecessary and wasteful health care spending;
  • increase the number of insured Americans;
  • protect the doctor-patient relationship;
  • provide the States greater flexibility to administer Medicaid programs;
  • expand incentives to encourage personal responsibility for health care coverage and costs;
  • prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions and provide conscience protections for health care providers;
  • eliminate duplicate government programs and wasteful spending; or,
  • do not accelerate the insolvency of entitlement programs or increase the tax burden on Americans.

No time line was given for the Committees to report legislation for consideration by the US House.

Reactions

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-NV) has already ruled out a vote on outright repeal of the health care law, however, he may choose certain provisions for repeal that can have a substantial impact on businesses and organizations. For example, the healthcare law maintains a provision that businesses will have to file 1099 forms with the IRS and send them to the company that provided the services or sold the product for every expenditure that exceeds $600.  Senate Leadership may choose to repeal provisions such as this as it is highly likely President Obama will sign it into law.

Without question, repeal of provisions such as the IRS 1099 reporting requirement will be beneficial to businesses and organizations as it will significantly reduce time and resources required for completing those forms.

Contact Cansler Consulting to see how we can represent your interests in this crucial debate.

Tim Cansler
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