Congressman Joe Wilson says small businesses, senior citizens and rural communities will all be harmed under the House Democrats’ newly unveiled “Affordable Health Care for America Act.”

“This bill, to me, is not a health bill. It’s a takeover by government. The government is taking over the providing of health care to the people of the United States and my concern is it’s a tax bill,” Wilson said.

The Republican came to Orangeburg Friday as part of a series of press conferences in his Second Congressional District. He dined at Mama’s Kountry Kookin’ before making a presentation on what he called the government’s takeover of health care under the nearly 2,000-page legislation which U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled on Thursday.

“The bill provides more squeezing and reducing of Medicare and Medicaid by half a trillion dollars. This means that many people in this community, particularly in rural communities, are going to lose their health care. So persons with Medicare Advantage will immediately be negatively impacted,” Wilson said.

While House Democrats said their plan will extend health care coverage to tens of millions, Wilson called it “an attack on small business” that the National Federation of Independent Business says could cost 1.6 million jobs.

“The new taxes that are being proposed would make it where people would have to reduce the number of people they have working for them. They would have to ultimately possibly go out of business themselves. At a time when we have high unemployment, we shouldn’t have a bill that would cost jobs,” Wilson said. He said another study claimed it could eliminate 5.5 million jobs.

Wilson also believes the bill does not allow for adequate verification of a person’s citizenship.

“To me, it’s wrong. We have a situation where it could be life or death for American citizens. ... They would go to the emergency room or go to the hospital. They would get in line behind people who illegally come to this country, many of them illegally for the sole purpose of receiving health care. ... My view is that we need to verify who the citizens are of our country. Americans are paying for the citizens. They should receive health care and they shouldn’t be delayed,” Wilson said.

He and other congressmen are developing an amendment that would require people to provide verification of citizenship to ensure they are eligible for taxpayer-funded health care benefits.

Wilson said the Republican Study Committee’s Empowering Patients First Act, or H.R. 3400, provides a more reasonable approach to health care reform and rests on six fundamental health care principles: accessibility, affordability, choice, innovation, quality and portability.

The Republican bill would allow people to buy insurance across state lines, he said. Also, employers could offer a “defined contribution” to employees’ health care plan. Employees could remain on the same plan if they changed jobs.

Wilson said, “There are problems in the health care system in the United States. They can be addressed with health care insurance reform, but not a government takeover. I’m very concerned.

“We’ve already seen the problem with the swine flu. The government simply didn’t plan properly and many, many people’s lives are at risk today because we don’t have sufficient vaccines for swine flu.”

n T&D Staff Writer Dionne Gleaton can be reached by

e-mail at dgleaton@times anddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5534. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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