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Bruce Braley’s Email Isn’t So Honest…

I wrote Bruce Braley awhile ago about the health care bills and finally received a response from him.  His entire email is below:

Thank you for contacting me regarding healthcare reform.  This is an important issue and I am glad you have shared your views with me.As you may know, the House passed H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, by a vote of 220-215 on November 7, 2009.  After reading the bill, hearing from constituents at town hall meetings, and debating the bill's provisions in Congress, I voted in favor of this bill, because it is a good fix to our current system where costs have spiraled out of control leaving healthcare out of the reach of many Americans.  H.R. 3962 will decrease health insurance costs, expand access to quality, affordable healthcare, and maintain Americans' choice of health insurance, while reducing the federal deficit. You can view detailed summaries and the text of this bill by going to my website: http://www.braley.house.gov/healthcare

Despite many claims, this bill does not mandate coverage under a government run plan or promote a government take-over of healthcare.  This plan will expand access to health insurance by removing barriers to coverage including limits for pre-existing conditions and preventing insurance plans from dropping patients when they most need assistance.  This bill establishes a minimum standard of benefits for health insurance coverage which existing plans will be required to meet by 2018, allowing anyone who enjoys their current healthcare coverage to keep it.  This bill does not provide assistance to illegal immigrants (section 347, page 274), federal funds to cover abortion (section 265, page 160), or permit healthcare rationing (Section 1181(h)(1)(A), page 766).  Members of Congress and federal employees are not exempt from the provisions of this bill, and the new requirements of this bill mirror requirements of the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) which insures over 8 million federal employees and Members of Congress.

To address costs of healthcare, this bill removes the current anti-trust immunity that health insurers enjoy, providing for increased competition.  This bill would permit states to enter into healthcare compacts, permitting insurance to be sold across state lines while ensuring the state's regulations are met by participating plans.  Finally, this bill will reduce frivolous lawsuits by establishing a voluntary state incentive grants program designed to encourage states to develop and implement "certificate of merit" and "early offer" alternatives to traditional medical malpractice litigation.  The "certificate of merit" approach would require certified affidavits from a qualified medical specialist attesting to the validity of a claim before it would be admitted to court.  "Early offer" programs would encourage the settlement of malpractice claims to prevent them from ending up in court, reducing court costs and payouts. 

For further information, I have included a sheet with answers to many frequently asked questions.  I also encourage you to visit my website where you can access a detailed summary and the text of the bill. 

Thanks again for contacting me.  I occasionally provide electronic updates on issues I think my constituents might be interested in.  If you would like to receive my E-newsletter, please sign up at my website at http://braley.house.gov.  On my website you can also view my voting record, and get information about issues important to the First District.  If I can be of any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Bruce Braley
Member of Congress

Ok, so where do I start?  Well, lets break it down as we go.

At the beginning of the email Braley states, "After reading the bill, hearing from constituents at town hall meetings,..." and tries to give the impression that he cares and he did the due diligence required.  However, lets take a look at some of the facts starting with his statement that he actually read the bill.  According to a report by PolitiFact it would take more than 3 days to read the bill and that doesn't count any further research or study one might want to make on it after they've read it.  In fact, members of Congress even brought in a professional speed reader to read the bill!  What an embarrasement!  Now Braley tells us that he's read it?  I doubt it.

Ok, so lets move on to his second statement of listeing to us at Town Hall Meetings.  Here is only one, of MANY, videos of how well Braley listened to us.  You'll see just before the 1 minute mark that everyone is cheering AGAINST the bill.  Is he deaf, dumb, and blind!?  Watch the video here:

I wanted to write this and target just that first paragraph (second paragraph technically) to show you the PERSONAL CHARACTER of Bruce Braley.  He lied TWICE in a single sentence in which both ideas were related directly to who he is as a person.  I hope you will join me in voting him out!

As for the rest of the email you can probably guess it is all bull as well.  Here is an interesting thing to think about... it may be true (may is the key word) that it will reduce the premiums that we pay currently.  However, how much in direct and indirect taxes are we going to end up paying that will cost us MUCH more in the long run?

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