Today, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Assistant to the Speaker, issued the following statement on the health care bill released today by the Republican Study Committee:
“The legislative proposal released today by the Republican Study Committee would essentially dismantle the employer-based health care system as we know it, and would strengthen insurance companies who have seen windfall profits and contributed to skyrocketing health care costs. The bill is good for the insurance industry, but bad for consumers. It does not make clear how the changes would be paid for or how many Americans it would cover, and an analysis by the Center for American Progress shows it would put more people at risk of losing their insurance and make an already broken system worse.
“It has been 43 days since Rep. Roy Blunt, Chair of the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group, ‘guaranteed’ a health care bill. The American people deserve to know if this bill represents the position of House Republican leadership.”