Owens will vote "yes" again on health care

Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, said today that he will again vote "yes" on the health care reform bill when it comes to an expected vote Sunday.

“After studying all the facts, I was presented with a simple choice: Do nothing and further burden our families and entrepreneurs, and allow our costs to spiral out of control, or take the first steps to reform our system in a way that will pay for itself and help America pull itself out of the recession," the congressman said in a statement. "I believe this moves our communities and America forward.”

“This has been a difficult decision,” Mr. Owens told reporters in a conference call this morning.

In the end, Mr. Owens said, he concluded that the package will benefit the economy by averting skyrocketing health care costs and extending coverage to most uninsured people, including as many as 27,000 in the north country.

The budgetary cost and benefit prediction issued by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office helped seal Mr. Owens's vote; he cited the report's estimate that the legislation will reduce the federal budget deficit by up to $130 billion over a decade.

Critics have questioned the CBO report and said the bill's intricacies defy solid predictions. Even if the deficit reduction figure is correct, Republicans said, it represents a fraction of the total federal deficit.

In the days leading up to the vote, Mr. Owens said he was concerned about predictions that New York could lose between $4 billion and $5 billion because of lower “disproportionate share” payments through Medicaid, which was one of the possible outcomes from the Senate version of the bill. But leaders fixed that problem in the reconciliation package, he said Saturday.

“That is no longer a concern,” Mr. Owens said, after consulting with state officials who had expressed concern about the Senate bill.

Mr. Owens said the taxation of high-cost health plans, which will help pay for the reform, is “somewhat disconcerting.” But the plan leaves “very few” people taxed, and the tax bite won't take take effect right away, leaving Congress time to adjust it.

Mr. Owens' deliberations included reading and studying the Senate legislation, the reconciliation bill, the CBO report, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report on the cost of inaction. He spoke to fellow House and Senate members of New York and elected district leaders and met with Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., one of the leading opponents to the bill.

“The math is sound on this bill," he said in the release. "Currently, our nation spends $45 billion annually in uncompensated care alone. It is estimated that premium costs will go up at least another $45 billion, costing our economy at least $90 billion annually. In short, while Americans spend almost $2.5 trillion annually on health care, this legislation makes fiscal sense. For those reasons and many others, I intend to vote in favor of health care reform when it comes before the House of Representatives this Sunday."

The congressman said he held meetings with the AARP, labor unions, tea party members, small business owners and hospital CEOs.

"When I could not meet with constituents face-to-face, I held a telephone town hall with 3,700 people, during which a quarter of participants said that health care costs was the top concern, but 44 percent were more concerned with jobs," he said.

Mr. Owens said he was not influenced by "outside opinions or misinformation campaigns from either side."

He concluded: "The correct decision was clear. In order to avoid astronomical rises in premiums, to improve our benefits, and to once again put our families in charge of their own health care — not insurance companies — this bill is needed."

Mr. Owens voted for the House health care bill shortly after taking office in a November special election. He replaced Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor, who is now Army secretary.

In conjunction with his announcement, Mr. Owens' office released district-specific information about the bill from the House Energy and Commerce committee.

The committee estimated that 405,000 district residents receive health care coverage. There are more than 177,000 households in upstate New York that will qualify for tax credits to help pay for coverage. The bill will also reduce the cost of uncompensated care for health care providers by $67 million annually, the committee estimated.

UPDATE: Matt Doheny, a Republican candidate for the seat, says Mr. Owens "has failed his constituents."

"Owens support for this version of so- called health care 'reform' will add trillions of dollars to an already out of control federal deficit," he said in a statement. "Even worse, this legislation will increase premiums and taxes for those who have health insurance, while shortchanging payments to doctors and hospitals. Sadly, this bill fails to address the critical escalator for health care costs, and that's the outrageous and frivolous lawsuits that lead to high malpractice insurance rates and excessive testing."

"In order to get health care costs under control, Congress needs to pass legislation that leads to meaningful tort reform; enact measures to address Medicaid fraud and abuse; and implement changes that will induce competition in the system by allowing people to buy insurance across state lines," Mr. Doheny continued. "The American people want common sense solutions, not government run health care."

Mr. Doheny joins his potential Republican opponents Doug Hoffman and Paul Maroun in opposing this bill.