NH Democrats - ALEC: We Don’t Support Your Bill to End Medicare

Over 500 petition signatures against ALEC sponsored bill delivered today

Concord, NH - Today, Democratic lawmakers and New Hampshire citizens dropped off more than 500 petition signatures in opposition to HB1560 written by ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council. Republican House Majority Leader DJ Bettencourt and Republican Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Morse have sponsored HB1560, which would end Medicare in New Hampshire. ALEC sponsored a presentation on Health Care in New Hampshire at the State House this morning.

"This bill is a reckless and irresponsible takeover of New Hampshire's Medicare program, said Representative Cindy Rosenwald of Nashua. "Turning Medicare into a voucher program where seniors have to purchase private health insurance would also put at risk what people like most about Medicare:  that they can continue their relationship with their own doctors.  If they have to choose doctors from within a carrier's network, they may possibly have to leave the doctor they have trusted for years.  That's not fair." 

Instead of a stable, reliable Medicare plan, seniors would be subjected to a budget process every two years that could slash benefits and services at the whim of the state legislature. Under HB1560, the legislature also could choose to eliminate the Children's Health Insurance Program. This irresponsible bill would attempt to nullify federal law and put thousands of Granite State senior citizens and children at risk of losing health insurance and health care services.

"I am a Medicare beneficiary who is very satisfied with the program and the guaranteed health care services made available to me, even though I have a pre-existing condition.  Not only do I have access to medical care, I have the peace of mind knowing that the Medicare program affords me maximum choice of doctors and hospitals," said Joan Jacobs of Portsmouth in testimony before the House Constitutional Review and Statutory Recodification Committee.  "I paid payroll taxes to Medicare throughout my life as a wage earner.  I do not want my Medicare coverage terminated by the state of New Hampshire.  I repeat:  I do not want my Medicare coverage terminated by the state of New Hampshire."

"I believe HB1560 is an ill advised proposal that will bring chaos to the health delivery system here in New Hampshire.  It will bring uncertainty and anxiety to doctors and patients alike.  As a Medicare beneficiary myself, I find it alarming that lawmakers in our state legislature would want to take away a guaranteed benefit and replace it with a state block grant of diminishing value," continued Jacobs. "Even more astounding is the fact that the bill as proposed does not even require the redirected federal funds be used for health care."

"Hopefully testimony from Granite State citizens like Joan Jacobs and the cries of hundreds of New Hampshire residents who don't want to see Medicare ended will stop ALEC and the sponsors of this awful bill," added Rep. Rosenwald.

The full text of the petition and signatures can be found here.

ALEC - Cap and Trade Alert: Biggest State losers

The U.S. Senate is expected to continue working on Cap-and-Trade legislation later this month. While we know the U.S. House version of Cap-and-Trade legislation, H.R. 2454, also known as Waxman-Markey, will have negative impacts on the U.S. economy, it’s important to note how the legislation would impact your state specifically and how your state compares to others. No one will escape the economic burdens this legislation will impose, but some fare far worse than others.

Find out if your state is among Waxman-Markey’s “Biggest Losers” by visiting ALEC’s Cap-and-Trade webpage. You can also click on your state to see individual state results including rankings on the following measures: gross state product loss per capita, job loss, electricity cost increases per household, and gas price increases per gallon.All rankings are based on state-level data published recently from the Heritage Foundation.Note that these results are annual averages over the time period 2012 – 2035 which makes for a truly alarming cost imposition on American families and businesses. For more on the Heritage report, visit their website at www.heritage.org.

Here’s a sneak peak at Waxman-Markey’s “Biggest Losers.”Remember, even if your state is not listed in the top ten, you’re still a loser under this bill!

Biggest Losers

Top Ten “Biggest Losers” Overall	Top Ten “Biggest Losers” in Job Loss	Top Ten “Biggest Losers” in GSP Loss Per Capita	Top Ten “Biggest Losers” in Electricity Cost Increases Per Household	Top Ten “Biggest Losers” in Gas Price Increases Per Gallon
1. Connecticut	1. California	1. Delaware	1. Hawaii	1. Alabama
2. California	2. Texas	2. Connecticut	2. Connecticut	2. Hawaii
3. Hawaii	3. Florida	3. Wyoming	3. Texas	3. California
4. Ohio	4. New York	4. Alaska	4. Florida	3. Michigan
4. Pennsylvania	5. Illinois	5. New York	5. Maryland	5. Indiana
6. Texas	6. Pennsylvania	6. Massachusetts	6. Alaska	5. Washington
7. Massachusetts	7. Ohio	7. New Jersey	7. Louisiana	5. West Virginia
8. North Carolina	8. Michigan	8. Louisiana	8. Missouri	8. North Dakota
9. New Jersey	9. North Carolina	9. Illinois	9. North Carolina	9. Connecticut
10. Maryland	10. Georgia	10. Hawaii	10. South Carolina	9. Ohio
10. New York				9. Wisconsin
				9. Iowa

NH Sen. Bob Letourneau Tells Congress "No" to ObamaCare

Joins 1,800 State Lawmakers in Nationwide Effort to Preserve States’ Rights;

Stop Single-Payer

Concord, NH –Sen. Bob Letourneau signed onto an official letter from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to Congressional leaders, which was delivered on July 29, expressing the will of more than 1,800 state legislators opposing federal reform efforts—particularly, the Medicare-modeled “public plan” and a national health insurance exchange—which will trample states’ rights and lead Americans down the road to single-payer health care.

“While there is room for real improvement, this plan will change forever the way Americans receive their heath care, and not in a positive fashion. I am concerned with how this will affect our seniors,” said Letourneau.

The members of ALEC—the nation’s largest nonpartisan, individual membership association of state legislators—recently approved the Resolution on Preserving States’ Rights Regarding Federal Health Insurance Exchanges and a Public Plan, which deems the federal public plan anti-competitive and calls the proposed national health insurance exchange a “federal takeover” of the states’ role in regulating health insurance.

“The government will never compete unless it can change the rules to win,” says Iowa Representative Linda Upmeyer, minority whip, family nurse practitioner, and chair of ALEC’s Health and Human Services Task Force. “It’s an unlevel playing field when a public plan can shift costs to our state’s private insurers because of low doctor and hospital reimbursement rates, and then raid the federal Treasury for unlimited subsidies,” she added.

In the ALEC letter to Congress, ALEC’s lawmakers criticized the federal push to shift health care decision-making to Washington. “We all share the goal that patients deserve to choose their own quality, affordable, private health coverage,” the letter states. “But health reform shouldn’t just be the job of the federal government.”