Rep. Charles Boustany, M.D. (LA) published a piece today in the Daily Caller. See the following excerpt:
With the president’s signature still wet on the Senate health care overhaul, people rightly ask, “what will it mean for me?” For many, the answer will likely be found in your paycheck and in the doctor’s waiting room.
As a heart surgeon, I saw a wide range of new health care mandates from Washington, all of which affected care in some way. However, all of those disruptions pale in comparison to the massive, 2,000-plus page bill approved by Democrats in the House and Senate. New taxes and arbitrary Medicare cuts to pay for a portion of the new entitlements will be felt soon by many of the same people the president claims to want to help.
Taxes on prescription drugs, medical innovation and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) take effect almost immediately. To pay for a dramatic expansion of health coverage, the Senate bill raises more than half a trillion dollars in taxes. Unfortunately, these taxes will likely be passed on to patients and consumers causing health care costs and premiums to rise [1], not fall, for those who desperately seek relief.Medical innovation is expensive, but it often leads to lower costs for patients in the long run and saves lives. The new law taxes innovations, driving up cost and stifling ingenuity. During my time as a surgeon, I treated many patients with peptic ulcer disease. When I started, the standard practice to treat severe ulcers involved surgically removing portions of the patient’s stomach. These patients required extended hospital stays, complications were possible and surgery presented risks. Today, such invasive procedures are rarely necessary, following the approval of Cimetidine, which treats the ulcer without surgery.