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"I think it's a trillion-dollar boondoggle not just for the taxpayers for our country, but I don't think it provides real solutions to those who want to reduce the cost of health care and those who truly need access to health care that aren't accessing it today," Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta (R) said.
Source (with video):
www.necn.com/Boston/Health/2009/11/07/Health-care-debate-alive-in/1257635259.html
Date: November 7, 2009
Related: www.manuse.com/posts/227
THE FACTS
"Key details of Democrats' health overhaul bill"
By The Associated Press, November 8, 2009
The House health care bill passed Saturday would:
--Require most Americans to purchase health insurance or pay a fine.
--Expand health care coverage to 36 million more people over the next decade.
--Require employers with payrolls above $500,000 to provide insurance to their employees or pay a fine.
--Prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions.
--End premium disparities between men and women.
--Impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on income above $500,000 annually for individuals and above $1 million annually for households.
--Establish a government-run insurance plan to compete with private insurers beginning in 2013.
--Cost $1.2 billion over 10 years.
--Cut Medicare spending by more than $400 billion over 10 years.
H.R. 3962: "The Affordable Health Care for America Act"
U.S. Representatives that voted for the "Affordable Health Care for American Act" include U.S. Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, D-N.H.
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Rep. Frank Guinta: "We must repeal Obamacare"
Op-Ed, The NH Union Leader, January 18, 2011
Editor's note: New Hampshire's First District U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta is writing a biweekly column and sending it to the state's media outlets. This is his first one.
WELCOME to the first installment of “Frankly Speaking.” Every two weeks, this column will let you know what I’m doing in Washington and explain what it means to people here in New Hampshire. It’s important that you know the steps your Congressman is taking to fight for your interests, and to maintain an open dialogue with you about it.
Our country has just come through the national tragedy of the Tucson shootings. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Congresswoman Giffords and the others who are still recovering, as well as the families of the fallen. It was proper that the House paused from its activities to honor the victims of this senseless crime.
Now the House is turning its attention back to the people’s business, and the first major bill of the new Congress: repealing last year’s federal takeover of our nation’s health care system, commonly called “Obamacare.” It’s disturbing to many Granite Staters not only because it will lower the quality of the health care your family receives, but it will also kill jobs -- 1.6 million according to an estimate by the National Federation of Independent Businesses -- at a time when we need to be creating jobs, not losing them. (In fact, I never stop looking for new opportunities to help encourage the creation of more jobs for our citizens.)
You sent me to Washington to do something about this dangerous law. That’s why I proudly added my name as a co-sponsor of House Resolution 2, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act. Ending Obamacare is so important, I made it my very first piece of legislation in Congress. I have mixed news to share with you about our progress on it.
The good news: There is broad support for repealing Obamacare in the House. The bad news: It faces an uncertain future in the Senate.
But this fight is far from over. There are too many controversial provisions in this massive 2,049-page federal intrusion into your family’s health care to allow it to stand. So the repeal battle is being waged on several fronts.
For starters, just a few days ago Wyoming became the latest state to join a lawsuit challenging the law’s constitutionality. Nearly half of all 50 states are now partners in that suit. Personally, I believe this new law strays far beyond the bounds of our Constitution, and I hope the courts will eventually rule it does, too.
On Capitol Hill, we are working hard to find opportunities to repeal the act’s more onerous provisions, one at a time. One bill (H.R. 4) was put on the legislative fast track last week when it was moved to the top of House’s legislative list. H.R. 4 would protect small businesses, which are the backbone of New Hampshire’s economy, by stopping the 1099 tax provision before it goes into effect next year.
What does that mean? Obamacare requires that starting in 2012, businesses (no matter how small) must fill out an IRS Form 1099 every time they spend more than $600 a year for goods and services from a company. Even the smallest “mom and pop” businesses, such as your barber or hair stylist, or your local diner or neighborhood auto mechanic, will be buried under an avalanche of paperwork. That means lost productivity, which in turn means lower profits, and that translates into no new jobs. The bottom line: Businesses would have fewer resources for hiring additional workers.
Instead of throwing roadblocks in the way of small businesses, we must clear the path for them to operate, innovate and expand. That will enable them to create new jobs and get more people back to work. With unemployment still hovering just below 10 percent nationally, doesn’t it make sense to assist the businesses that can help pull us out of this recession
I’m dedicated to doing everything I can to help more businesses put a “now hiring” sign in their window. And the first step in doing that is dumping Obamacare as fast as we can.
I look forward to reporting back to you in two weeks on the latest developments in Washington. In the meantime, if I can be of service to you, or if you want to share your thoughts, suggestions or concerns with me, please call either my district office in Manchester at (603) 641-9536 or my Washington office at (202) 225-5456, or contract me through my website at www.Guinta.House.Gov. Until next time, please know that I am always on your side and actively fighting for New Hampshire’s interests in Washington.
Frank Guinta, a Republican, represents New Hampshire's First District in Congress.
READERS' COMMENTS:
Change? My insurance rates went up and my coverage went down.
- Saladitos, Manchester
@John II, Manchester
Doctor Goldner was trying to explain by example why the current system is so expensive and wasteful that we would have to be truly “stupid” to keep it. That freethinking brain of yours seems to have trouble keeping up. Obama-Care may not be the perfect answer, but it is trying to address the issue. It is very dumb to think the current system works, however he seemed to throw you by setting his example as black man. Being educated he knows blacks are more likely to be predisposed to HBP.You could only think the man doesn’t really need a cell phone……oops!
- Mike, Wolfeboro
Yes let's repeal a bill that will provide 33 million Americans with affordable health insurance. I did not read the Republican plan to provide for affordable health care in this editorial. It has been 10 years since Bush was elected, where is the Republican plan? Are they hiding it from the electorate or do they not have a plan? I will be voting to send Guinta back to the private sector in 2012 so he won't get my tax dollars subsidizing his health insurance, the one he would deny 33 million Americans.
- Mike Raleigh, Manchester
I would just like to know how my healthcare can get any worse by repealing the health care bill. I can't afford to go to the doctor even with health care. My children can't afford or get health care and both have medical prolems they are just sitting on because they can't afford to have proceedures done. One is racking up hospital bills with no insurance, while those with insurance pay highter premiums to cover it. So tell me. How is repealing ANY improvement to health care in this country going to help?
- Georgia Cunnngham, Kensington
WOW! The worst mayor in Manchester history is now the worst columnist in Union Leader history! This is BIG news... Do us all a favor Frank and stay in Washington & pretend to work on our behalf with other looneys like Rand Paul who claim to be all about the constitution & the people but who do EVERYTHING they can to destroy the American way.
- Carol, Manchester, NH
Dear Dr. Goldner (Bedford NH,)
Well I'm thinking that perhaps the young man with high blood pressure should consider a smaller cell phone contract so that he can pay the $8.33 cents a month to control his own high blood pressure.
Why do you want to bankrupt your grandchildren?
They already pay for Grandpa's Viagra... they're already in the hole for Granpa's Social Security... They're already on the hook for the 13 million million dollar deficit that Grandpa is leaving in his wake.
This system has set the groundwork for nothing but bankruptcy.
Why are Doctors across the land not taking new Medicare and medicaid patients? You know and I lnow that it's because the gUMent Run Program doesn't pay the going rate to Doctors.
It's nuts that you have all that education and yet there's not a free thinking cell in your brain.
- John II, Manchester
Hey Tom,
you are not payig for it.... the insurance company is. Maybe you work for one?
Or just incredibly uniformed. Let me guess... you watch Fox News?
- BH, Goffstown
"how do you feel about our kids between the ages of 18 and 26 without health care?"
Ahem. Individuals aged 18 and 26 are not kids, they are adults.
"This is America, and finally these kids got coverage thanks to Obama."
And we get to pay for it. Lucky us!
- Tom, Campton
"Polling consistently shows 60% want to see ObamaCare repealed. - Tom, Campton
You are living in the past. CURRENT polls put support for repeal of the health care bill at around 40%."
Wrong - polling shows support for repeal consistently around 60%:
http://bit.ly/cunKej
http://realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/
ObamaCare is going to be a major issue in the 2012 elections, and equally as devastating an albatross around the necks of Democrats.
You don't think people haven't noticed their skyrocketing premiums, the unconstitutional individual mandate, the earnings losses and job warnings from businesses, the bribes and sleazy backroom deals to ram this through, the impact on the deficit?
ObamaCare is not going to stand. It's as simple as that. This is going to go on and on and on until ObamaCare is no more.
Deal with it.
- Tom, Campton
It is unfortunate that Rep. Frank Guinta does not inform his readers that the 1.6 million job loss number comes from a study that refers to a hypothetical employer mandate that is not part of the new law. The NFIB did not study the new law.
Misleading your constituents is no way to represent them.
Check your facts! http://factcheck.org/2011/01/a-job-killing-law/
- Claire, Portsmouth
Bi-weekly articles? Wow, that is pretty ambitious. I wonder who is really writing them for Frank.
- Neil Allen, Manchester
The Union Leader and its readers would do well to read the Concord Coalition's recommendations on Healthcare reform and consideration for repeal of the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)."
A "non-partisan" organization dedicated to "eliminating federal budget deficits and ensuring Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are secure," the Concord Coalition was created in 1992 by N.H. Senator Warren Rudman, MA Senator Paul Tsongas, and then Commerce Secretary Peter Peterson.
Concord Coalition just issued its brief on ACA reconsideration at:
www.concordcoalition.org.
Likely that brief makes better reading than the 81 UL blogging posts we all just endured.
A more balanced newspaper might have referenced the Concord Coalition throughout our ongoing debate on healthcare reform.
But then, why confuse the readership with facts, actual costs by the Congressional Budget Office, projections by Office of Management and Budget, and other unnecessary resources.
Consensus might be created, real reforms legislated, and savings be realized. Perhaps conflict sells more newspaper advertisements.
- Another Taxpayer, Manchester
Polling consistently shows 60% want to see ObamaCare repealed. - Tom, Campton
You are living in the past. CURRENT polls put support for repeal of the health care bill at around 40%. What did you think was going to happen when the earth didn't stop revolving when the bill passed? For all the lies and insanity Republicans promulgated none of it came true. People have an odd way of noticing that kind of thing.
- Sean R., Hooksett
Representative Guinta,
I have been practicing medicine in Manchester for over 29 years. Before you condemn and attempt to reverse the 2010 health care bill, I urge you to think of the ramifications. First, what will you do with the 40 million Americans without insurance and the 20 million underinsured? How will you make sure Americans have preventative health services? The way the present system works all Americans have coverage except that the uninsured get care when they become severely ill and loose there life earnings and their house. Take for instance a young black male who may very well get high blood pressure. For less than a hundred dollars a year, we can control his hypertension, or we can wait until he has kidney and cardiac disease and spend a million dollars on his stents, medications, and kidney transplant. What will you do about pre existing conditions? What about children and what about young adults who are now able to stay on their parents insurance?
We are the only western industrialized country that does not offer universal healthcare. If anything, guaranteed readily affordable healthcare allows greater freedom to move and create jobs.
I am not saying that this bill was perfect but it sets the groundwork for eventual universal healthcare in the United States bringing us up to the level of all the other western nations. In the future, this bill will be considered one of the most important pieces of social legislation in our countries history. So before you dismantle please at least propose a viable replacement.
- Wayne L. Goldner MD, Bedford NH
I can pretty much guarantee that Mr Guinta has health inurance either though his spouse or perhaps he's paying for his own policy. How about it Frank? want to be honest and tell us how you are paying for your health insurance if you declined the federal coverage?
- BH, Goffstown
Zizzy,
the issue is that your employere is not paying what a single person has to pay, not even close. You are receving the same policy for far less.. How is that fair?
Under my plan, you won't be able to get insurance through your employer, period. You'll have to buy it just ike I have too.
Why shoud I be punished for being self employed and have to pay more. If your employer pays $600 a month, then I should pay $600 a month.
I had to go to a dr. last month to get prescriptions renewed, and a 10 minute appointment cost $200. They don't charge the insurance company $200, why should I pay $200?
A bet a ot of people on here complainig work at health inurance companies. Go get a job creating something, not sucking things from society,
- BH, Goffstown
Sue, do you have halth insurance now?
Of course you do, and it's through your employer and you are not paying $1800 a month for it like I have to.
I am in favor of outlawing any employer based plan, period. Do you like that idea?
Clearly you just want to see Obama fail, it has nothing to do with the problem. Good for us? Who is 'us'?
So starting next month, please come up with $1800 a month for you and your husbband to pay for your health insurance.
- BH, Goffstown
Looks like the good Representative may be incorrect in his claim that so-called Obamacare will kill jobs. A new report by Forbes point to a study that points to the tax incentives in the bill allow employers to recoup the cost of providing health care for employees: http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/06/more-small-businesses-offering-health-care-to-employees-thanks-to-obamacare/
- Dexter, Northfield
Frank Guinta couldn't produce an original thought if he even tried. He has money so he can afford health care...oh wait, he is getting it from the government. What a leach. He is going to vote to take health car away from others when he willingly takes his from the government. What a loser. Hey Frank how are the bars in D.C? Any hot women?
- Jay, Manchester
How about we repeal congress's taxpayer-paid healthcare first? Obviously this congressional hypocrite will never do anything of the kind. No, it's _your_ health care that needs to be repealed, not his.
- Kevin, Rindge
Part 2
You won’t be able to use the fact that you work for a large employer or a city government to lower your health insurance premiums.
You will have to buy it on the open market just like I do. Why should you pay $300 month and I pay $1800 for the same policy just because you work for a large company?
No more need for the useless non-producing, resource sucking jobs of insurance brokers. We will buy directly from the insurance companies and then you will be on equal footing with me.
So Mr. Guinta, do you think it’s all right that I have to shell out $1800 a month?
What's your solution Mr Guinta?
I recently have looked into a new policy and because I had cancer when I was 24 (I am now 47), I cannot even find a policy at all that does not exclude the pre-existing condition even though if I got cancer again, there is no way it would be related to that 25 years ago.
The 1099 rule is dumb, I do agree with that. It will however make it harder to cheat on your taxes if someone pays you in cash, so perhaps that is why Mr. Guinta and his rich friends do not like it.
- BH, Goffstown
Mr. Guinta does not know what he is talking about.
Part 1:
I own a small business and before the Republican induced recession decimated us, I had 3 employees and we had health insurance. I am now down to one employee and myself. My employee got insurance through her spouse, leaving only me and my wife on the policy. Last year Anthem doubled my premium from $900 a month to $1800. I can’t afford that, and I lost my coverage.
Do all of you who think that we don’t need this; don’t you think $1800 a month is a bit expensive and is that what you are paying?
I’d be willing to bet that you have subsidized health insurance already through work, etc.
Well, here’s my solution and YOU won’t like it. I guarantee that everyone who does not want this plan get's their health care for free or nearly free from their job.
Under my plan, you will no longer be able to get insurance through your employer or the government, etc.
Employer based plans will be outlawed.
- BH, Goffstown
Ryan from Hooksett, how do you feel about our kids between the ages of 18 and 26 without health care? You probably have no kids so no skin off your back. I suggest others put themselves in MY shoes trying to raise kids on my own with no health care to be found for them. This is America, and finally these kids got coverage thanks to Obama.
- Alice, Concord
Doesn't Guinta's wife work for CMC? I imagine that every hospital is against obamacare because they are told what they have to charge and held to maximums, which we all know hospitals don't like.
- bob smears, alton bay
"Most people are OK with the healthcare plan."
Incorrect. Polling consistently shows 60% want to see ObamaCare repealed. If you doubt this, consider the outcome of the recent elections in November. The Democrats ran like rats from ObamaCare and were still annihilated because of ObamaCare.
Simply put: ObamaCare will not stand.
- Tom, Campton
What a joke.
Frank, vote for single payor health care and I will listen to you. Stop repeating the same lies of Fox Noise and your teabag buddies.
- John, Manchester
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives approved a rules package on Wednesday, the first day of business for the 112th Congress, that will dictate the way the legislature operates this year and reflects a shift to Republican control of the lower chamber. The bill passed on a party-line vote, with 240 Republicans in favor and 191 Democrats against.
One measure that didn't make it into the rules package was a proposal by Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) that would have required all members to disclose whether they are taking advantage of their federal health insurance plan within 15 days of taking the oath of office. Crowley's measure also split on a party-line vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
Frank wouldn't disclose where the extra 250,000 for his campaign came from either. Connect the dots. Probably from health insurance lobbyists
- Ed, Derry
It doesn't matter what political party one is affiliated with when it comes to ObamaCare.
David Rivkin, lead attorney in the Florida health care lawsuit case, was the first lawyer to identify the law as unconstitutional. He initially said ObamaCare did not pass the smell test and finally the rest of America is waking up.
Hoe does it make it right that unelected officials and the HHS should determine Obama's socialized medicine agenda?
- MichellE Pierce, Manhattan, NY
Focus on the economy - not trying to win points from the fringe right. Most people are OK with the healthcare plan. Move on...
- Frank, Dover
Classic republican waste of time. Any repeal passed by the House will never see the light of day in the Senate.
If you want people to take you seriously and support repeal, then present your alternative legislation BEFORE you vote to repeal the existing law. I'll decide whether to support repeal if your new legislation is better. If it isn't then I won't support repeal. See, it's simple isn't it.
- Ed, Manchester
Obviously, you typical rhetoric does not even recognize that THE PEOPLE want more cooperation, more moderate views, and bi partisan thinking. I strongly suggest that all republican nay sayers give up federal health care (that WE PAY FOR) and put your money where your mouth is. JUST SAY NO is not an answer. Come up with an alternate, better pan that doesn't cut children out of healthcare and does not leave people bankrupt because they got sick. WAKE UP
- Jane Twitchell, Candia
Who's really funding the Republicans and Guinta's desire to repeal the "job-killing" healthcare?
Why it's the insurance industry! More profits and less care equals kickbacks to the politicians from insurance lobbyists.
When is the last time any of us have given political campaign contributions on par with lobbyists from the insurance industry, corporations, investment banks, the super-rich?
As long as this system persists the average schlub will get no representation from Washington.
You will get malarkey about job-killing healthcare, "patriotic" wars for national security, deficits (and tax cuts), big business bailouts, but it's just smoke and mirrors while the fleecing of America continues.
- Dennis, Derry
I have a friend who is a combat veteran. He lost his job and medical insurance in this recession. The health care reform act allowed him to get needed health insurance from the VA. I have a co-worker who became sick and was out of work for six weeks. She didn't have health insurance. If she didn't have the support of her parents, whe would have been destitute over it. Since she is under 25, she is now on her parents' insurance and still looking for a full-time job with benefits.
Go ahead and make your money wasting, symbolic vote against the health care bill. Overt time, people will begin to realize how much this bill helps us all and none of your doom and gloom scenarios pan out. It's also sad that you are so passionate about repealing this act with no real solutions to offer the American people.
I urge people to read some, if not all, of the bill. See what's really in there. http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/111_ahcaa.pdf
- Lee, Rumney
This is nothing more than Ray Buckley style unpaid political advertising. Where is the democratic response? I want Obamacare repealed too, I just don't want to her reverse-coat-tails Guinta take credit for the hard work of thousands.
Why not just print/post a url so his supporters can look for it online and let the rest of us try to forget that he is in DC?
- Marie, Manchester
(CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS)
- Do you care that health care cost is the BIGGEST (BY FAR) reason for personal bankruptcy in this country? For no fault of their
own, they just got sick. TALK ABOUT JOB KILLLING. I am sure personal bunkruptcy does wonder for job creation.
- Do you care about people being kicked off their properly paid for insurance plan when they exceed their lifetime maximum? (I am
sure not many know about that)
- Do you care about people kicked off their properly paid for insurance plan for years just when they got sick? (RECISION:
Insurance companies even have department to do that. I am sure not many know about that).
- Do you care that, once all these people are kicked off their plan, they end up in hospital ERs, all at the LEAST cost effective
taxpayer cost?
- Do you care that, as a nation, we pay the HIGHEST per capita cost and still leave millions of WORKING people to their own devices?
(we pay double or triple what anybody else pay - per capita)
DO YOU HAVE A SERIOUS PLAN FOR ANY OF THIS? ...Other than empty rhetoric? Or is it that, unfortunately, the new Republican Party
these days is no longer interested in solutions!
And please, do not give us the bull about buying your own plan from any company you wish. Do you know of anybody who EVER had to
buy an insurance plan on their own for their family or for their small business seriously espouse this idea? It is just naive!
- Charles, Manchester
On a positive note, it is fine to disagree with specific points of the law, and constructively try to improve it. For example, debating and improving (even disagreeing and repealing) the 1099 provision is fine. There is more than one way to accomplish something.
What is irresponsible is just saying NO to the concept of improving our healthcare financing system, because we are trying to be negative or just for pure politics.
- Do you care that WORKING people cannot acquire insurance for no fault of their own? (precondition for them or somebody in their family).
- Do you care that costs are going up DOUBLE or TRIPLE inflation?
- Do you care that small business cannot keep up with 15% or 40% yearly premium raises? (I am sure somebody will shim in that it does not happen no matter how many proof they see of this)
- Do you care that small business costs may be double what larger companies pay due to their smaller pool size?
- Do you care that cost of older workers (specially for smaller companies where the pool is small) can be unaffordably high, and there fore affects older people (even in their 50's) being hired? (hiring an older person at a small company will kill their premium cost)
- Do you care that small business has NO bargaining power what so ever? (on the count of their small pool size)
(2nd message follows )
- Charles, Manchester
"Dear Mr. Guinta, I suggest you poll your constituants..." -Alice, Concord
The constituents were polled on Nov. 2, 2010; that's why he is in Congress.
- Ryan, Hooksett
More bad news for opponents of healthcare reform…
The article “More Small Businesses Offering Health Care To Employees Thanks To Obamacare” published in Forbes magazine presents that more employees of small companies have healthcare this year due to the small business tax credits available. (see http://blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2011/01/06/more-small-businesses-offering-health-care-to-employees-thanks-to-obamacare/)
If you think Forbes is just another liberal business magazine favoring Obama, well then you just don’t know your back side from your elbow.
Repeal and say goodbye to these small business tax credits.
- Peter Sorrentino, Manchester
Regarding Mr. Guinta's toeing the party line regarding the Affordable Health Care Act, I would like to see him take the lead and be the first to specifically name those jobs that will be killed.
No one wants their job to be killed. Please tell us Congressman, what jobs, exactly, will be killed, where and by whom.
It would be refreshing to have an elected official actually make a succinct statement. I think all he can do really is just regurgitate what he has been told to say.
But, there's always hope that an actual intelligent, independent thinking person will make a statement. Inquiring minds want to know. What jobs will be killed Congressman. Please tell us so that we can give you a big thumbs up when your prophecy proves true.
Thanks
- Rod Loiselle, South Berwick, Maine
Where are the alternative solutions? In the US we have a third party payer system, which is the largest contributor to skyrocketing healthcare costs. While some advocate for a single payer system, that solution ignores its many pitfalls, including the necessary "death panels". The amount of money in ANY healthcare system is limited and as such the limited money is allocated by those who spend it, either medicare/medicaid and insurance companies in a third party payer system or the government in a single party payer system. Why not re-introduce the free market system of healthcare which was part of what made this country so competitive for so long?
Why not reveal who wrote the obamacare bill; insurance and pharmaceutical companies and their lobbies! Why not open a discussion to the income tax system which has begotten a sense of entitlement including "free" healthcare. It is only since the government intervened in the healthcare of individuals that costs skyrocketed. It should come as no surprise as just last week the US Coast Guard got coverage in the UL for valuing marijuana at over $38,000/pound. Do you really think a government whose biggest consistency is overpaying for everything it buys has any business providing or dictating the conversation between a physician or other healthcare provider and patient?
Talk of repealing obamacare is like offering a child dessert, it’s EASY. How about the meat and potatoes of understanding the drivers of healthcare costs in 2011?
- Michael Layon, Derry
Frank Guinta needs a new set of talking points.
He justifies repealing last year's healthcare bill by quoting a Nat'l Federation of Small Businesses report that said it would cost 1.6 million jobs. But the NFSB itself says the study used a model, not the law that was enacted eventually, and it was based on a different set of assumptions. "It's old. We don't use it anymore because it was based on a hypothetical mandate." Whoops.
We shouldn't expect everyone to know this, but a guy that quotes the report in an op-ed ought to know what it is about. Guinta is embarrassing himself and our state.
- Michael marsh, Greenland
Let's straighten one thing out first: this legislation is not, as Guinta alleges, 'commonly called Obamacare' -except insofar as it has been cynically BRANDED that by the right wing media, for political reasons, to link it to Obama, who did not write the legislation, and to give opponents an easy to remember, catchy moniker by which to slime the law. These same tactics were behind the childish and repeated use of the phrase 'Democrat Party' to denigrate Democrats.
It is actually called The 'Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act'. Will the GOP ever grow up?
More importantly, though, the efforts to repeal this law illustrate in stark relief the blatant hypocrisy that is Republican policy. Elected on a promise to 'reduce the deficit', GOP lawmakers are now hell-bent on repealing a law that the CBO has repeatedly shown will do exactly that. Elected on a promise to 'reduce waste', they now suggest that we the taxpayers pay lawmakers salaries for months to make worthless a piece of legislation that Congress spent over a year working on, at enormous cost. That’s before we add the millions in dollars in court cost it will take for the federal government to defend itself against the growing list of GOP lawsuits. Need I mention that all this is, of course, from the very party that wants to restrict the public’s right to file lawsuits?
Make no mistake- this repeal effort is first and foremost a giant thank you gift to insurance companies. Industry has always been the true Republican base.
- Dave, Sandwich
"If not, whether the reduced cost is from your employer or not, then you are receiving subsidized insurance which is, in effect, welfare"
If your employer pays a portion because you work for them, it is a BENEFIT, which is offered to attract people to work there. Would you consider someone's paychek the same as a welfare check?
Americans are unhealthy because of our diets and addiction to processed foods, not because of our insurance companies. Nearly 1/4 of our children are now obese, I wonder if that has anything to do with skyrocketing costs....
- Zizzy, Manchester
At least the Republicans we elected on the national level is fighting for the taxpayers. Thanks Congressman Guinta! That sounds so sweet doesn't it! Question for Joel in Nashua, do you know where Canada is? Do you know anything about it? They are being forced to reduce ALL of the socialist programs in Canada, they are unsustainable. Did HHS send out a memo to all the recipients to comment here?
- Allan Trombley, Rochester
We need to give this administration more time to fix the mess that 8 years of Repbublicans created. Healthcare costs are crippling this country. Please stay away from the progress made to date.
- Pat, Clarksville
It is ok to say repeal it, as long as you have an idea of an alternative. Your alternative is to have NOTHING in place. A panacea for you seems to be what exists in most 3rd world countries: everybody on his own. So, we end up with the MOST expensive system in the world by far (costs us 18% of GDP and yet leaves 30-50M people with no coverage).
Amazingly, when the rest of the world is looking to progress, we are looking to DEVOLVE. Great leadership and vision we have here!
- Charles, Manchester
Dear Mr. Guinta, I suggest you poll your constituants before you go to such measures. I have a child who is 21 years old who works for a company with no health care plan. She now has coverage under my policy because of Mr. Obama's Health Plan. Why are you so intent on ensuring these kids between 19 and 26 have no health care coverage?
- Alice, Concord
Were these the talking points that Cigna gave to you Frank? You know the same health insurance company that gave thousands of dollars to your political campaign.
When you were mayor you & the alderman told the city's cab companies how much they could charge. How about telling the health insurance companies, hospitals, doctors and pharmaceutical companies how much they can charge. That would do alot to alleviate everyone's coverage costs.
- Cecilia, Manchester
Hey Frank, will you still be in Congress by the time the vote comes around? Where did the money come from? Answer now or answer later to the jury!
- Stephen, Stark
Good Job Frank for keeping your promise to the many people that supported you this year. You attached your name to a bill that would repeal Obamacare.
If there is any law that deserves to be repealed it is this one. This law was crafted by Harry Reid as a mangers amendment in a backroom with Rahm Emanual. Senators had to be bought off with legalized bribes for their vote to cut off debate. In order to get the house to pass this law the Senate had to use the reconciliation process to pass House Amendments after the original bills passage. Since it’s passage health care premiums have soared despite the promises by Obama that premiums would go down . The Wall Street Journal called this bill the worst piece of legislation ever written.
- Chris, Merrimack
Please don't call that morally bankrupt but slush fund rich backroom dealer politician "representative". He does NOT represent NH. He is Congressman Guinta- for 1 year and 11 months, or sooner if the FEC finally does its job. Why can''t they all be like Kelly?
- Dave M., Manchester
This is why we elected you Frank! Do you see the leftists on this board spewing their anti-american hate? That's a solid indicator that you have it right.
- Mark D, Bedford
I am not for repeal of this bill, but I am for amending it to take away the 1099 burden for small businesses (but not for all businesses) at least until someone has the fortitude to stand up to the insurance industry and the for-profiteers in medicine and give this country the health care system that works elsewhere--single payer. As far as I'm concerned, if one person dies because they can't afford health insurance, then those who deprive her/him of it had better stop calling themselves moral, Christian, or anything like it.
- Alan, Raymond
For decades the US has suffered from outsized and accelerating healthcare costs, shorter than average lifespan than other industrialized countries, poorer birthing statistics, escalating cost of government due to escalating cost of healthcare, escalating costs to business for healthcare, and tens of millions of people not being covered and therefore costing everyone billions of dollars in emergency room treatment. Obama et al offer their compromised (no public option, etc) solution.
Guinta offers to repeal the country’s first law addressing healthcare issues without how he proposes to address the issues. This is not leadership and not the kind of representation NH should have.
- Peter Sorrentino, Manchester
Rep. Guinta,
I think it is very interesting that you would start your article with Rep. Giffords' injury.
How many middle class Americans have health ins. that would cover the costs of that extensive amount of medical care without going into a lifetime of debt??
What reality are you living in? The health insurance companies are controlling how people receive care NOW and it is based on their company PROFITS, not on saving costs for small businesses or families.
Even before this recession, there were small businesses who could not afford very good healthcare insurance for their employees and bigger companies who did not want to provide good coverage.
Again instead of sincere debate on the pros and cons of health care reform, the Republican party is trying to scare people with the false "loss of jobs" due to this bill.
- Linda, peterborough
If you can come up with a better plan than Obama-Care then please go right ahead and pass that right through. The fact is there have been major issues with health care in America for quite sometime. Obama-Care is eerily similar to Bob Doles plan in the 90’s in his answer to Hillary-Care. The Republicans had clear control of congress and the executive branch of this government in the early part of the last decade and chose to ignore health care (among many things) and decided to use their political capital to start a war instead. Obama chose to spend his political capital on some of his campaign promises, such as health care and repealing DADT. Now he can comfortably move to the right distancing himself from his far left .His base will never vote any further to the right of him, they may not be happy, but they will stick around. All I have seen from the Republicans is to put a long fancy name on a bill to repeal Obama-Care so they can appeal to their very right faction, wasting time and energy that could be put to something useful such as actually working with the President on such things as creating jobs. Mr. Guinta please do something useful such making our government actually work.
- Mike, Wolfeboro
Good Start Mr. Gunita! ObamaCare downshifts huge cost onto the States.
Please enoucrage the NH State legislature to adress health care reform. The only law we want from the Federal government is a law saying that any health insurance plan acceptable for sale in one state shall be acceptable in all states. Please make clearer that health care is a states rights issue and the Federal government should have no involvement!
- Jim, Manchester, Ward 9
let's spend another 11/2 years fighting over this bill. create somes jobs franky help the people don't slap us in the face.You want to help get the people 100.000 out of your pay a year for the food bank would be nice.
- mark, manchester
Just what we didn't need - another lost Republican trying to help the insurance industry screw people out of coverage and increase their profits. No thanks Frank.
It's amazing to see so many sheep here in New Hampshire actually buy into the rubbish that Rep. Guinta is out to help them - when he and his crowd only work to help the super rich.
- Paul, Manchester
The National Federation of Independent Businesses is a right wing lobbying group. Why should we take their numbers on faith over the CBO? Has anyone fact-checled the NFIB numbers?
- JR, Chester
If you're for the people, which ones?
Obviously the people who can afford
insurance and or have it. You I see
do not have to worry. Why won't you and
Charlie Bass own up.
- Sandra Gendron, Dunbarton
Nothing worse than a RebuliCON blowhard refuting something that might "help" the little people all the while being entitled to some of the best medical care availaible for free. It wouldn't bother me so much if he would just come out and say the truth....the govt is too incompetant to handle this regarless if its a RepubliCON or DemoRAT at the helm...that I could believe.
- SMD, Dallas, TX
Frank, we must appeal your "money" investigation.
- Dave, Manchester
Thankyou Frank, I may yet be able to save my company in this supposed recovering economy. With the additional cost of healthcare coverage, I was sunk for sure. Try to remember people, not all business owners earn millions each year, as a matter of fact some of us barely scratch out a decent yearly wage. So stop looking for the socialist handout.
- Paul E., Jaffrey
Mr. Guinta congratulations on proving that you are a business as usual ideologue. The Congressional Budget Office (which GOP Party leaders love to cite when it benefits them) says that repealing the new health care law will INCREASE the deficit by at least 230 BILLION dollars and leave MILLIONS without coverage. Which proves ideology trumps fiscal responsibility and compassion for Mr. Guinta.
Mr. Guinta knows full well that with Democrats in charge of the Senate and Obama sitting in the Oval Office with his veto pen there is absolutely zero chance that the new health care law will be repealed. But that isn't what they are telling their constituents. There's very little difference between riling up the Republican base and raising mushrooms. The process is exactly the same.
Isn't it interesting America can't afford health care for it's people, but it can afford endless wars, tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires (which never did trickle down), and a new big business bailout every other month?
- Bert Gerrish, Manchester
"you have failed to clearly articulate how the bill will kill jobs here in America"
Billions in increased costs/mandates/regulations on businesses.
Not to mention the hundreds of billions in unfunded mandates foisted on the states through the expansion of Medicare, and the trillions added to the federal debt.
ObamaCare is a monster. It must be repealed. It will be repealed, sued, and defunded out of existence.
- Tom, Campton
BTW - The quote below is from an impostor, obviously.
Childish.
- Tom, Campton
Absolutely! We must repeal ObamaCare, the greatest threat to job creation and our fiscal future that there is.
We the people didn't want ObamaCare then and we don't want it now. Repeal this unconstitutional, corrupt abomination and send it to the Senate, where we will be watching to see how Sen. Shaheen votes on repeal, and will be waiting to hold her accountable if she does not vote to repeal.
- Tom, Campton
Guinta is wrong that all want the health care billed overturned. 129 million Americans have "pre-existing" conditions...myself included. Insurance companies avoid us like the plague.
The study to determine the "job loss" associated with the reform has been taken out of context by Republican party and regurgitated to feed the Tea party frenzy.
- Valerie, Bedford
Thank you sir id rather make the choice not have it forced down my throat whole thing with being american we can make choices even with obamacare and my boss covering half i still could not afford it first thing you learn in economic tinsnafl (there is no such thing as a free lunch) think about that you get free healthcare what Are they going to expect you to give up in return
- matt, concord
My, my. The Mass, NJ, CT, and NY liberal transplants are sprouting up all over the place this morning.
Pass the anti-Obamacare bill. Then watch Reid block it from coming to a vote in the senate, or failing that, let's watch who votes for it in the senate. If it passes the senate, let it be on Obama to veto it.
Either way, considering the polls, it's good for us.
Finally, the republicans have backbone! (Provided by the tea party, no doubt.)
Thanks for your input, Frank. I just wish NH was joining the states bringing suit against Obamacare.
- Sue, Canterbury
Go ahead, good start. Waste as much of the taxpayers time and money you can. I thought the voters wanted limited resources better spent in more productive ways?
- Greg Barrett, Manchester
Great Job Frank! Get rid of this trash! Back in 2004, my health care premium was $390 per month (for a family of four). Today, the exact same coverage is $910 per month. With Obamacare, its expected to cost me $1450 per month. NO THANKS.
- Brian, Exeter
Repeal guintafraud
- Don Twantany, Loudon
I work all year long as an adjunct professor in the Community College System of New Hampshire, and have done so for years. I receive insufficient pay from the State of New Hampshire, with no option to buy health or dental insurance. The Health Care Bill is an important step in the right direction.
- Craig, Merrimack
No Thanks, Frank. Why don't you work on repealing all the health care congressmen get until ALL AMERICANS can have the same choices. Until you have walked in our shoes of trying to get health care with a preexisting condition when someone in your family is over 60 and self-employed, you shouldn't be tinkering with what little we have. You should be working on the fact that we have very few insurance companies to choose from in New Hampshire.
- Catherine Beard, North Sutton
Hooray for you, Congressman Guinta! Those of us with even half a brain support you completely. May God bless your endeavor!
- Matt McGrath, Auburn NH
I'm guessing matt is closer the half brain then the full. Job killing bill, is a funny name. If the bill is so horrible the republicans wouldn't need to use such a pathetic political tactic like using an attention getting name like job killer. More politics as usual because republicans have no ideas of their own. It's easier to beat up the idea then to come up with one of their own.
Thanks Frank, keep up the good work. Hopefully you have cut back on your late night drinking and will be more focused on serving our interests as residents of the state of NH.
- zach, allenstown
Great Frank...now that you have taxpayer subsidized health care for life. You are certainly not a rational or independent thinker when it comes to the nation's issues.
- John, Keene
Yes, keep up the diligent work in the House on Obamacare, knowing full well that the Senate won't even take up the bill. Keep wasting time. Don't worry about that "economy" thingy.
- Stan, Lee
Exodus 22:28 - Do not speak evil of me or of the ruler of your people.
That includes you Rep. Guinta!
- Anna, Manchester
I wonder if Forgetful Frank's remarks were made before or after he left on his government paid junket. Next on the gravy train Charlie Bass, he's never met a junket he didn't like. As for Jeanne Shaheen she's been on the federal gravy train since she took her oath of office.
- Richard L. Fortin, Manchester
A small business can be anything to a mom & pop tp to a 500mil corp. A lot of these businesses take cash payments ergo never report true income. They also are unwilling to provide heathcare for employees. I learned this when I sold insurance back in the 70's. Guinta is naive with his shibboleths.
- Stephen L. Winnicki, Austin, Tx
when guinta finally discloses his finances, then i will begin to listen to him. until then, he isas phoby as they come. i want to know hiw the bars are in dc.....fill us in frank.
- rick, manchester
Rep. Guinta, I don't know what sending a column here accomplishes other than winding up the Democrat trolls. Given the responses to this point--"talking points [[from the]] fox news play book" [sic], "right wing robot" [sic], "no...opposing ideas," I do hope you don't spend too much time trying to please everyone. Republicans do have opposing ideas, such as insurance portability and lawsuit caps, but you are wise to first focus on the grievous damage that Obama-care did, and ignore the carping from your opponents.
Despite the ability to cherry-pick statistics on Canadian health care, we don't want a system under which paying for care WHEN YOU NEED IT is a federal crime, nor a system where insurers are forced to accept customers into risk-sharing contracts when there is no risk at all (when the customer waits until he knows he will need surgery). The only people who like this are the ones that simply want bad things (including this THEFT) to happen to businesses. They ought to exercise their right to move to Canada, whose people take pride in their socialized system--while their parents die on the waiting list, or return to Cleveland to pay for hip replacements.
Democrats, neither the fact that Congress gives Rep. Guinta better prepaid care than I get--or a larger salary than mine--harms me. Except through taxation, but we long ago accepted that our legislators will be paid--and you guys keep calling for our state legislators to be paid more. Go figure.
- Spike, Brentwood NH
Frank,
So what do you plan on doing for people who cannot afford health insurance? What are you going to do about companies only hiring part time employees to avoid paying for health coverage? What are you going to do about the mentally ill like Jared Loughner who may not be able to 1. hold a job that allows them to obtain health coverage, 2. have the money to pay for private insurance? You're not doing anything for any of these people and trying to look the other way to benefit your wealthiest constituents.
- Rick, Salem
haven't done my research, but this 1099 thing sounds awful. burdening anyone with added paper work is ridiculous, and correctly, a loss of productivity. however, Temi is right. HOW? will it lose jobs. Which ones? And i fail to see how it will lower "the quality of the health care your family receives." people are still going to get sick and injured at the same rate. the difference being, those who did NOT pay for health care just used emergency services (which, by the way, if you had health care YOU were paying for with your premiums) when they were in need. if everyone has access to a PCP, then wouldn't that reduce the "wait" at the ER? (that is a joke, even if there was only one person in the ER before you- i'm sure you'd have to wait 3-6 hours, "obamacare" or not).
what i really want, is a third party advocate who assess how well the state/county/city/town spend their money. i am sure, in fact positive, that money is being wasted on redundant jobs, and workers who do not keep of their end of the boat. unions and seniority are often to blame. States, towns, counties, should use low paying internships for college students to get them experience and help them pay off tuition. they could fill many-a-job and save money doing this.
- Hogan, Manchester
Well, "frankly speaking", Frank, you are NOT representing me in any way, shape or form. As Temi mentions, please tell us HOW the health care bill will kill jobs, and HOW you propose to make health care affordable for everyone, not just the well off. And finally, I agree with Ed in Londonderry, either give up the insurance THE TAXPAYERS are providing you, or arrange for ALL TAXPAYERS to enjoy that same benefit.
- Betsy, Manchester
Hey Ed, let's keep up with the news before blogging or commenting. Guinta has already said that he won't be taking the government healthcare offered to him as Congressman. Nice try, but do some research next time.
- Jake C., Merrimack, NH
Mr. Guinta, how about demanding that all waste in government programs be eliminated IMMEDIATELY instead of just being talked about? You can start with abuse of Social Security Disability which has reportedly become the newest form of lifetime welfare in many U.S. cities. People have to stop relying of the government to satisfy all of their needs.
- Richard Catellier, Rollinsford, NH
Well now that Guinta has healthcare the rest of us don't need it.
We need a single payer, one form style of healthcare.
Every developed country in the world can run healthcare at cheaper costs than the US and with longer life expectancy than the US.
The real story is the Republicans represent the entrenched insurance industry not the average middle class worker slaving for less and constantly losing ground.
The insurance industry, big corporations and the wealthy then complete the circle by giving back to the GOP in campaign contributions.
Americans need to get politically involved and educate themselves about what's really going on in this country.
- Dennis, Derry
Rep. Guinta, just how much of the taxpayers money will be squandered repealing a bill you have no replacement for, nor even any opposing ideas. This is just the same political crap the new 'controlling' party puts out. You'll waste time do your 'work' instead of the peoples work.
- John, Goffstown
No thanks, Frank. The healthcare bill will help cover millions of people with pre-existing conditions and stop the health insurance companies from gouging us (the consumers) with its medical loss ratio provisions. It will also fully cover preventive services, including mammograms for women.
Why would we want to turn back the clock to the bad old days? Frank, are you capable of being anything other than a right-wing robot?
- James R., Hampstead
It will never happen!
Frank - will you give yours up-Lets hear the answer.
You and that Do-Do Beaudry are in the same mode-Make people give up health ins that you have(for free).oookkkkk!
TEA Party will be gone in a year and so will you......
- Mike, Manchester
Mr. Guinta is citing the same jobs killing mandatory talking point which does not take into consideration the millions of jobs created by the new health-care legislation. How about telling that other half of the story.
- Mark, Concord
Republicans vow to repeal health care reform thereby scratching the backs of big insurance companies and and completely turn their backs on the citizens of this country who will benefit from reform. It should be obvious to everyone that the GOP will repeal and offer nothing in it's place sending the health of the average american back to being dictacted by money biased insurance companies. Guinta, how do you sleep at night?
- Ron, Concord
To Richard in Manchester...Exactly true. Canada covers everyone, spends less per capita than we do and they have a healthier population. Stop with the scare tactics. Just do the right thing and cover everyone.
And for all you posters just waiting to jump on and say you don't want subsidized healthcare...you need to think JUST a moment before you do. Do you have health insurance? Are you paying the FULL cost of the health insurance? If not, whether the reduced cost is from your employer or not, then you are receiving subsidized insurance which is, in effect, welfare. Every single one of us who have employer sponsored health insurance are already receiving subsidized health care. The point of a single payer system is to make sure everyone has the same access
- Joel, Nashua
Ed,
The congressman did give up his health insurance. He said so on ABC News a couple weeks ago.
- Ryan, Hooksett
Hooray for you, Congressman Guinta! Those of us with even half a brain support you completely. May God bless your endeavor!
- Matt McGrath, Auburn NH
Mr Guinta, while i do understand your concerns about the health care bill, you have failed to clearly articulate how the bill will kill jobs here in America, you have failed to say what you intend to replace it with and how millions of Americans without healthcare will be able to get and afford health care. The article albeit well written seems like talking points taken straight out of Frank luntz and fox news play book.
- Temi, Manchester, NH
Yes, we must repeal Obamacare and then replace it with a single payer, Canadian style health service. Health care for all, rich and poor, no one turned away. Fund it with a GST.
- Richard, Manchester
I'm all for repealing this horrible bill, but could you have at least used a more mature name? What are the Republicans in 3rd grade?
- Tom, Campton
First of all, let's ask Congressman Guinta to give up his taxpayer paid government run health insurance that covers him and his family. What's good for him isn't good for everyone else apparently. Once again, the Republican party and our rookie representative is seriously out of step with the nation's concerns. Health care is shown to SAVE over $200 Billion and provide jobs per the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. Sounds like the plan of one-term official.
- ed, londonderry
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"NH's Guinta: repeal health overhaul provision"
Boston.com - AP - June 16, 2011
CONCORD, N.H. — U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta is sponsoring a bill to repeal part of the national health care overhaul law.
Guinta's bill, introduced Thursday, targets a provision of the law that would require businesses with more than 200 employees to automatically enroll new full-time employees into a health care plan if they offer one. He says the provision, which takes effect in 2014, would be especially hard on businesses that have high turnover rates, such as restaurants, which would have to automatically enroll every cook or waiter they hire.
Guinta's bill has been endorsed by the National Restaurant Association and co-sponsored by 13 other House Republicans.
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TUESDAY, SEPT. 24 (2013): FRANK GUINTA: NH OPPOSES HEALTH CARE LAW. Former U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta said Tuesday he supports the House vote last week to
de-fund "Obamacare" as a condition of keeping the government running and charged his former and possible future general election opponent is "out of touch" with her constituents by backing the health care law.
Republican Guinta, who on Monday formally announced his candidacy for the 1st District U.S. House seat currently held by Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter, said in an interview that Granite Staters have consistently opposed President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act.
"I would have supported the bill that came to the floor to continue funding of the federal government while staying consistent with the wishes" of the 1st District and the state, Guinta said.
The roll call in the GOP-controlled House last Friday was 230-189, virtually along party lines.
Shea-Porter last week called the House GOP position "an irresponsible political crusade" and charged House "extremists" were "holding Congress and the American people hostage."
The resolution is dead on arrival in the U.S. Senate, where majority Democrats are working on their own continuing resolution, stripping out the provision that would de-fund the ACA.
"I remain, as do New Hampshire voters, opposed to the Affordable Care Act," Guinta said. "I've been saying for several years that it is going to reduce affordability and reduce access. My position remains the same," he said.
Regarding the potential for a government shutdown over the health care issue, Guinta said, I'm just as frustrated as everyone in the country about this lack of ability to get anything done in Washington."
But he said Friday's vote was to keep the government running "while expressing the will of the country that the Affordable Care Act is not in the best interest of the country.
"And our current representative," Shea-Porter, he said, "voted against that. In my view, she's out of step with what the people of New Hampshire want and voted for shutting down the government."
Guinta said "survey after survey" conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center has shown the ACA is unpopular in New Hampshire.
Since 2010, UNH polls conducted for WMUR television have indicated that more Granite Staters oppose "Obamacare" than favor it.
In the most recent statewide poll on the subject, conducted in July, 35 percent favored the law, while 44 percent were opposed, with 21 percent "neutral" or undecided.
Guinta said that Shea-Porter, even as a member of the House minority, has the ability to present an alternative, but "continues to listen to (House Minority Leader) Nancy Pelosi instead of working across party lines.
"John Boehner, as speaker, allows both the minority and the majority to bring votes to the floor, unlike when Nancy Pelosi was speaker," said Guinta.
Shea-Porter, he said, "can't hide behind the view that because she is in the minority, she can't effectuate change. Nobody in New Hampshire wants to hear that."
He said that as Manchester's mayor from 2006 through 2009, he was able to "work with a super-majority of Democrats" on the city's Board of Mayor and Aldermen "to get things accomplished, such as the first tax cut in a decade, taking on crime and modernizing the delivery systems of our departments.
"I didn't get everything I wanted, but I worked with Democrats. That's what people want right now," he said.
Shea-Porter was elected to the House in 2006 and reelected in 2008. Guinta defeated her, 54 to 42 percent, in 2010, and then lost to her, 50 to 46 percent, last year.
Shea-Porter, he said, "voted to shut down the government. She voted out of step with what people of New Hampshire want relative to the Affordable Care Act, and that's why people are angry.
"She had an opportunity to break with her party and vote for a solution, and she opted not to," said Guinta.
"I understand this was a partisan vote. I get that," he said. "But this notion of the government shutting down could have been stopped on Friday. Our representative made a very powerful statement, that she stands with Nancy Pelosi and not with New Hampshire."
State Democratic Party spokesman Harrell Kirstein said, "It took less than 24 hours for Guinta to betray his phony new brand and revert back to his reckless Tea Party ideology.
"He is siding with Ted Cruz and Rand Paul instead of the hardworking people of New Hampshire."
Kirstein said a government shutdown would hurt veterans, the military and "programs vital to the middle class.
"But none of that matters to Frank Guinta on his radical right wing crusade to re-fight the health care battles of the past. He is willing to devastate the economy, and hurt the economic well being of Granite Staters all in the name of the Tea Party."
Kirstein said that while Guinta cites polling numbers on the ACA, "he lost reelection in 2012 with an irresponsible repeal of Obamacare at center of his campaign. The ACA is reducing costs and helping people live healthier lives."
*
With the issue now before the Senate, Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte, who is backing Guinta and will an October fund-raiser for him, has a different view than Guinta, House Republicans and 2nd District Republican congressional hopeful Gary Lambert.
Like many Senate Republicans, Ayotte supports repeal of the health care law, but not at the risk of a government shutdown, which, she said, is not "a strategy that is good for America."
Guinta said, "I would not characterize that as a difference of opinion. Let the House of Representatives do its work, send the legislation to the Senate and then let the Senate to work its will."
Guinta said "good public policy" results from each body voting its will on issues and then hammering out differences in committees of conference.
"What I see Senator Ayotte saying is, 'Let the House send us a bill and we'll work on the bill.' And that's the way it should work.
"When it comes down to two, three or four players in Washington dictating what happens, that's what makes the country angry," he said. "You are eliminating the will of the people."
Guinta said that as he ramps up his campaign, he expects to be the target of "standard attacks used across the country" by Democrats. "It's started already.
"People are not interested in how a party can knock somebody down but what your solutions are," he said. "The fact that the leadership of the Democratic Party is trying to tear me down is standard operating procedure, but I think people see through that."
Guinta is expected to face a GOP primary challenge from Dan Innis of Portsmouth, the outgoing dean of the Peter T. Paul School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire.
"It doesn't matter to me," he said. "I run for the opportunity to work for the people of this state. "I don't focus on that."
Guinta said he came to his decision to again seek the House seat during the summer after speaking with his wife, Morgan and his 10 and 8-year-old children.
He said he chose to run for the House instead of the Senate because "I enjoy the process of the House because you do have a lot of involvement and engagement in public policy."
Source: "Granite Status: Guinta backs de-funding 'Obamacare,' charges Shea-Porter 'out-of-touch' with Granite Staters" (By John DiStaso, NH Senior Political Reporter, NH Union Leader, September 24, 2013).
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"Guinta vows to champion mental health care"
By Dan Tuohy, New Hampshire Union Leader, February 7, 2015
Yvonne from Manchester was on the line with a question, or a statement, for her congressman.
Whatever reform Congress eyes for the Affordable Care Act, she hopes it retains insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions.
“I didn’t get that prejudice for my mental illness, and I could have insurance and I would like that to continue,” she told U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta, R-NH, during a telephone town hall this week.
The issue is personal for Guinta, too. He is a long-time caregiver for a family member with mental illness. He is also speaking out more often about the challenges facing people with mental illness – nearly 1 in 5 American adults experienced mental illness in 2013, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports.
“I can understand and appreciate first-hand the challenges that you and your family have gone through,” Guinta said. “I think it’s incredibly important that we try to eliminate the stigmatisms associated with mental illness and I think it’s important for people like me to talk about it publicly.”
Guinta said his telephone town hall was one means to get feedback from Granite Staters on what they would like to see in an “Obamacare” replacement. He has said any replacement should be a “patient-centered approach” that protects those with pre-existing conditions.
The conference call with constituents came a day after the U.S. House of Representatives voted again to repeal “Obamacare.” Democrats opposed it.
Guinta voted to repeal and replace it.
That legislation faces tough sledding in the U.S. Senate, even with Republicans in the majority. The White House also said it would be vetoed.
In his telephone town hall, the second in as many months, Guinta said he would propose crafting legislation on mental health. He mentioned improving the health care delivery system and expanding access.
Guinta said around 30 percent of Americans are dealing with some form of mental illness, including the financial challenges often associated with it. As he did during his first telephone town hall, Guinta encouraged anyone having difficulty navigating the health care delivery system to call his office.
Guinta also spoke of bipartisan efforts in Congress to reduce bureaucracy to help small businesses, suicide prevention assistance for veterans returning home, a bill to end human trafficking, passage in the House of the Keystone XL pipeline approval act, and a bill he co-sponsored to target duplication and waste in federal government programs.
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"Frank Guinta seeks to repeal Obamacare's 'Cadillac tax'"
By Ted Siefer, New Hampshire Union Leader, February 12, 2015
MANCHESTER — U.S. Rep. Frank Guinta, R-NH, has filed legislation in Washington that would repeal the so-called "Cadillac tax" provision of Obamacare, a move pushed by Mayor Ted Gatsas.
Guinta’s bill, titled the “Ax the Tax On Middle Class Americans’ Health Plans Act,” would eliminate the excise tax set to go into effect in 2018 on employers whose health plans exceed certain monetary thresholds.
Gatsas last year urged members of the state’s congressional delegation to fight the Cadillac tax, warning it could cost the city close to $6 million when it kicks in, costs that would ultimately have to be borne by taxpayers.
Government employers such as Manchester are particularly vulnerable to the tax because the health plans they offer, typically negotiated with public employee unions, have historically been generous. While the Cadillac tax won’t take effect for three years, the city is currently in the process of negotiating new union contracts that could last through 2018.
Guinta’s chief of staff, Jay Ruais, said the congressman took action after hearing the concerns of Gatsas and others.
Guinta, a former mayor of Manchester, said in a statement: “My legislation will protect workers from facing this devastating tax increase, employers from reducing workers’ benefits and municipal taxpayers who — if enacted — would experience skyrocketing property taxes. The repeal of this onerous tax has received widespread support from Republicans, Democrats, national unions and more.”
Starting in 2018, the Cadillac provision of the Affordable Care Act will levy excise taxes on employers whose health care plans cost more than $10,200 a year for individuals and $27,500 for families. The plans would be taxed at 40 percent of the cost above those limits.
It’s not only the health insurance plans of public employee unions that could be affected, but more expensive private plans. Health insurance companies have already begun scaling back high-end plans in anticipation of the looming tax.
Supporters of President Barack Obama’s health care law have argued that the Cadillac tax would lead to more efficient and less costly use of the health care system.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, also responded to Gatsas’ concerns, writing in a letter to Obama last July that the tax would “put additional pressure on municipalities like Manchester that are working diligently to balance their budgets and operate in a fiscally responsible manner.”
Similar legislation to repeal the Cadillac tax was filed in the U.S. Senate last year, but it never made it out of committee. Guinta’s bill may have better prospects now that both the House and Senate are in Republican hands, but the measure would likely be vetoed by Obama, should get it as far as his desk.
tsiefer@unionleader.com
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"Frank Guinta fabricating facts about ACA"
Seacoastonline.com - Letters - February 22, 2015
Feb. 21 [2015] — To the Editor:
Congressman Frank Guinta continues to fabricate his "facts." At his Goffstown town hall, "Guinta said many of his House colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle are beginning to become concerned about the long-term implications of the ACA" (http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150218/NEWS06/150219012).
No, Mr. Guinta, Democrats aren't "concerned." If they were "concerned," why didn't a single Democrat vote with you and the Republicans to repeal the ACA? (See Roll Call #58, http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll058.xml.)
If Democrats were "concerned," House Minority Leader Steny Hoyer, the leader and spokesman for the Democratic Caucus, would be voicing those concerns. But instead, he has been releasing statements, writing op-eds, and making floor speeches supporting the ACA (see http://www.democraticwhip.gov/). On Feb. 18, he praised the excellent 2015 ACA open enrollment numbers — more than 11 million people selected plans or re-enrolled. He notes, "in spite of 56 votes to repeal or undermine it and repeated litigation, millions of Americans are benefiting from it and wish it to continue." He concludes, "House Democrats will continue to stand in defense of the law’s patient protections and cost savings.”
That's right. House Democrats support the ACA and have voted to defend it from your efforts to deny affordable health care to literally millions of Americans. It’s shameful that you can’t tell the truth and that we constituents can't trust a word you say.
Susan Mayer
Lee, New Hampshire
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