ICYMI: Brooks, Vann and Walorski: Health Care Overhaul Is Wrong for Families

A prime example is the Democrats’ government takeover of health care, and the emerging picture should deeply concern any woman who wants to ensure they have quality health care for themselves and their family. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) recently called this big-government behemoth the “crown jewel” of the Democrats’ agenda, so it is certainly worth examining how it would affect our families.

President Barack Obama promised, “If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan,” but the facts now say otherwise. With the government takeover of health care beginning to take effect, it now seems millions of families will be forced to find health care elsewhere when the big-government law applies its mandates and fees. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that as many as 20 million people will be forced from their health insurance plans as the 2010 law takes full effect. This represents an enormous broken promise and a significant intrusion on millions of families and their ability to make their own health care decisions free from government interference.

For the family pocketbook, the law is contributing to rising health care premiums that are hurting many in these difficult times. Last year, health insurance premiums on average climbed 12.3 percent, and that number isn’t likely to change soon. It should be no surprise that government mandates and $500 billion in new taxes will make health care more expensive, and this is having a devastating effect on family finances that are already stretched thin. Instead of focusing on creating jobs and fixing the economy, the Democrats’ “crown jewel” since they took control of Washington is actively making life harder for families and small businesses across the country.

For the next generation, the government takeover of health care is proving to be a ticking deficit time bomb and hardly revenue-neutral as Democrats claimed when they passed it. The latest estimates show Obamacare could add up to half a trillion dollars to the deficit, and this is on top of the largest spending spree in history already happening in Washington. Democrats passed their government health care takeover, and both you and your children as future taxpayers will be forced to sacrifice down the line to pick up the tab.

And yet the Democrats refuse to listen to the objections of American families. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) insists that the health care takeover is becoming more and more popular as more provisions of the law come into effect, but polls show the complete opposite is happening. A solid majority of American voters — 53 percent to 39 percent according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll — opposes their failed big-government experiment, and opinions of the law are at all-time lows with no end in sight.

But instead of recognizing this fact, out-of-touch Democratic leaders in Washington remain blissfully ignorant to the outrage voters across the country feel. In fact, Democrats are vowing to make this a key issue in their re-election campaigns, even though the law has only grown more unpopular.

What we and millions of families across the country are left with is a string of broken promises that will continue to unravel and make life even harder for families already struggling with the stagnant economy.

When something sounds too good to be true, it usually is, and the Democrats’ government takeover of health care is a reminder that this is all too common in Washington.

The stark reality of the law — families forced off their current health insurance plans, rising monthly premiums and soaring costs for taxpayers — should be more than enough to demonstrate why Obamacare must be repealed and replaced with a patient-centered approach instead.

Pelosi famously said, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it.” We now know what’s in it, and we’ve had enough.

Maggie Brooks is a Republican House candidate in New York’s 25th district. Kim Vann is a Republican House candidate in California’s 3rd district. Jackie Walorski is a Republican House candidate in Indiana’s 2nd district.