I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5424 

To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health 

Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and enact the Common 

Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 27, 2010 

Mr. HERGER (for himself, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. PENCE, Mrs. 

MCMORRIS RODGERS, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. MCCARTHY of California, Mr. 

BLUNT, Mr. CAMP, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, Mr. 

SHIMKUS, Mr. PRICE of Georgia, Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. LINDER, Mr. 

TIBERI, Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky, Mr. REICHERT, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. 

HELLER, and Mr. ROSKAM) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committees on Appropriations, Ways and Means, Education and 

Labor, the Judiciary, Natural Resources, House Administration, and 

Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 

and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act 

of 2010 and enact the Common Sense Health Care Reform and Affordability Act. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Reform Americans Can 

3 Afford Act of 2010’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Of7 fice (referred to in this section as the ‘‘CBO’’) pre8 dicts that health insurance premiums will increase 

9 by $2,100 for millions of families by 2016 as a re10 sult of the Democrats’ health overhaul. 

11 (2) The Obama Administration’s own actuaries 

12 at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (re13 ferred to in this section as the ‘‘CMS’’) predict that, 

14 ‘‘[N]ational health expenditures under the health re15 form act would increase by a total of 

16 $311,000,000,000 (0.9 percent) during calendar 

17 years 2010–2019’’ as a result of the Democrats’ 

18 health overhaul. 

19 (3) The CMS actuaries predict that 14,000,000 

20 Americans would lose their employer-sponsored in21 surance as a result of the Democrats’ health over22 haul. 

23 (4) The Democrats’ health overhaul penalizes 

24 Americans who save money to pay for their health 

25 care and threatens to reduce the value of the health 

26 benefits of 43,000,000 Americans with Flexible 

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1 Spending Arrangements and Health Savings Ac2 counts. 

3 (5) CBO estimates the Democrats’ health over4 haul slashes Medicare by more than one-half trillion 

5 dollars in order to fund a new Government entitle6 ment program. 

7 (6) The Medicare actuaries found these Medi8 care cuts to be so drastic that they caution, ‘‘pro9 viders for whom Medicare constitutes a substantive 

10 portion of their business could find it difficult to re11 main profitable and, absent legislative intervention, 

12 might end their participation in the program (pos13 sibly jeopardizing access to care for beneficiaries)’’. 

14 (7) The CMS actuaries predict 7,000,000 Medi15 care beneficiaries will no longer be enrolled in a 

16 Medicare Advantage plan and millions of seniors 

17 who are currently enrolled in a Medicare Advantage 

18 plan will see their benefits slashed and out-of-pocket 

19 costs increase. 

20 (8) According to the Joint Committee on Tax21 ation and the CBO, the Democrats’ health law con22 tains a total of $569,200,000,000 in tax increases, 

23 including a dozen separate provisions that break 

24 President Obama’s pledge to avoid tax increases on 

25 middle-class Americans earning less than $200,000 

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1 per year and families earning less than $250,000 

2 per year. 

3 (9) The national unemployment rate remains 

4 near 10 percent. 

5 (10) CBO estimates that the Democrats’ health 

6 overhaul will raise taxes on employers who fail to 

7 provide Government-approved health insurance to 

8 their employees by $52,000,000,000. 

9 (11) CBO said that ‘‘employees largely bear the 

10 cost of . . . [employer mandate] fees in the form of 

11 lower wages’’. 

12 (12) The costs incurred by businesses who 

13 avoid the tax by complying with the employer man14 date may also be felt by potential workers (who will 

15 have fewer employment opportunities as businesses 

16 respond to the mandate by reducing additional hir17 ing) and by consumers (who may have to pay more 

18 for goods and services to offset the higher costs im19 posed on businesses by the mandate). 

20 (13) The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which 

21 represents more than 3,000,000 businesses and or22 ganizations, said the Democrats’ health overhaul, 

23 ‘‘will not increase coverage–rather it will lead to out24 sourcing, off-shoring, hiring of independent contracmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 tors, spinning-off small new companies, reducing 

2 workforces, and reducing wages’’. 

3 (14) The National Federation of Independent 

4 Business, which represents 350,000 small busi5 nesses, said through mandates, ‘‘employees ulti6 mately bear the cost of their health insurance 

7 through lower employment, depressed wages, de8 pressed productivity, and loss of economic opportuni9 ties’’. 

10 (15) CBO found that 3,900,000 Americans 

11 would pay $17,000,000,000 in taxes for not pur12 chasing Government-approved health insurance and 

13 that nearly half of these taxes would be paid by fam14 ilies earning less than 300 percent of the Federal 

15 poverty level. 

16 (16) The Internal Revenue Service may have to 

17 hire as many as 16,500 additional agents, auditors, 

18 and other workers to enforce all the new taxes and 

19 penalties in the Democrats’ health overhaul, dan20 gerously expanding the Government’s reach into the 

21 lives of virtually every American. 

22 (17) The CMS actuaries predict the nearly 

23 $110,000,000,000 in new health care industry taxes 

24 in the Democrats’ health overhaul will be passed 

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1 onto consumers in the form of higher premiums and 

2 out-of-pocket costs. 

3 (18) The subsidies for individuals and families 

4 (who earn less than 400 percent of the Federal pov5 erty level) in the Democrats’ health overhaul are 

6 structured in a way that will financially punish mar7 ried couples. For example, a woman earning 

8 $32,000 in 2016 who gets married to a man earning 

9 the same amount will pay an average marriage pen10 alty of $9,640 versus what they would have paid for 

11 health coverage had they not married. 

12 (19) The rapid phase-out of the premium tax 

13 credits, when combined with existing income and 

14 payroll tax rates, create effective marginal tax rates 

15 exceeding 100 percent in certain cases, thus destroy16 ing any incentive to work harder and earn more in17 come. 

18 (20) The so-called ‘‘Patient-Centered Outcomes 

19 Research Institute’’ paves the way for Government20 sanctioned rationing of life-saving treatments by al21 lowing the coverage of health care treatments and 

22 services to be based on how much those treatments 

23 and services cost. 

24 (21) The CMS actuaries predict the program to 

25 help cover the sickest Americans will be so inadmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 equately funded that premiums will have to increase 

2 ‘‘substantially’’ to maintain solvency. 

3 (22) The CMS actuaries estimate 18,000,000 

4 Americans will be dumped into Medicaid, a program 

5 in which they are likely to have a difficult time find6 ing a doctor to treat them, as a result of the Demo7 crats’ health overhaul. 

8 (23) The Medicaid expansion in the Democrats’ 

9 health overhaul will force States to spend an addi10 tional $20,000,000,000 on their Medicaid programs 

11 at time where the vast majority of States are facing 

12 a budget crisis. 

13 (24) The 2010 budget deficit currently stands 

14 at $1,400,000,000,000 and the national debt totals 

15 $12,000,000,000,000. 

16 (25) The CMS actuaries exposed the Demo17 crats’ budget gimmicks, saying a new Government18 run long-term care program that Democrats have 

19 touted as saving $72,000,000,000 over the next ten 

20 years will ‘‘face a significant risk of failure’’ and 

21 also that ‘‘the improved [Medicare] financing cannot 

22 be simultaneously used to finance other Federal out23 lays (such as the coverage expansions) and to extend 

24 the trust fund’’. 

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1 (26) CBO estimates the House Republican 

2 health reform bill would reduce premiums across the 

3 board by up to $1,050 annually. 

4 (27) The House Republican health reform bill 

5 would not cut Medicare or increase taxes. 

6 (28) CBO estimates the Republican health re7 form bill would reduce the Federal deficit by 

8 $68,000,000,000 over the next 10 years. 

9 (29) As of introduction of this bill, 21 State at10 torneys general are suing the Federal Government, 

11 challenging the constitutionality of the Democrats’ 

12 new health care law. 

13 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AF14 FORDABLE CARE ACT AND THE HEALTH 

15 CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILIATION ACT 

16 OF 2010. 

17 (a) PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE

18 ACT.—Effective as of the enactment of the Patient Pro19 tection and Affordable Care Act, such Act is repealed, and 

20 the provisions of law amended or repealed by such Act 

21 are restored or revived as if such Act had not been en22 acted. 

23 (b) HEALTH CARE AND EDUCATION RECONCILI24 ATION ACT OF 2010.—Effective as of the enactment of 

25 the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 

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1 2010, such Act is repealed, and the provisions of law 

2 amended or repealed by such Act are restored or revived 

3 as if such Act had not been enacted. 

4 SEC. 4. ENACTMENT OF THE COMMON SENSE HEALTH 

5 CARE REFORM AND AFFORDABILITY ACT. 

6 H.R. 4038, entitled the ‘‘Common Sense Health Care 

7 Reform and Affordability Act’’, as introduced in the 

8 House of Representatives on November 6, 2009, is en9 acted into law. 

Æ 

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