I gave the following speech on the House floor in support of the House Commerce Committee amendment to SB148, AN ACT relative to health insurance coverage, requiring the attorney general to join the lawsuit challenging the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and requiring federal grant moneys received by the state for implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to be returned to the federal government. Here’s the speech:
Rep. Manuse Speech on N.H. House Floor Against Obamacare
It should be quite clear to everyone here that voters in November rejected the way Congress passed the so-called Obamacare bill against the will of the people. They sent us here to do something about this. They still want us to do something about this. A recent UNH poll showed 55-35 percent opposed to the law.
If we do nothing, this Obamacare system will have the consequence of engulfing private health insurance markets and creating a single-payer system with the federal government in charge. With the federal government’s record of running Social Security and Medicare into the ground, we don’t want to take the risk of giving the same government management of one sixth of our economy.
By law, Obamacare will force individuals to buy health insurance against their will on January 1, 2014. It will also create anti-competitive price controls, which ALWAYS drives up the cost of the product being controlled every time it’s tried. This is outrageous! OUTRAGEOS!
We don’t want to do anything–NOT ANYTHING–that will allow this federal law to plant its poisonous seeds in our state! Sending Obamacare dollars back to Washington is essential to prevent those seeds from being planted.
We don’t want a health care bureaucracy! We don’t want federal or state control over this private market. This would have consequences!
Finally, I hope it is clear that we MUST direct the Attorney General to join the lawsuit that has declared this abomination unconstitutional!
While our constitution indeed requires our three branches of government to operate separately from one another, our constitution also explains how each branch ought to interact with one another. It is quite clear that the Legislature sets policy and the executive enforces that policy. If we have authority to set the terms of the attorney general’s office or to end it–and we do–we certainly have the authority to set his priorities. In fact, it is our obligation!
I will not be taking questions, but before I sit down, I want to leave you with this: The people of New Hampshire don’t want this federal takeover of our health care system. If we do nothing, this system WILL HAVE CONSEQUENCES!
