Health care act to face bipartisan reform in House

Many repeals to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act were drafted after Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives last fall, and one of the bipartisan ones has overwhelming support from Indiana congressmen.

Todd Young, R-9th District, has become one of 245 members of Congress to co-sponsor H.R. 4, the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011.

The act would repeal the provision of the health care reform law requiring all businesses to file 1099 reporting forms if they purchased more than $600 worth of goods from another business in a year.

It was introduced by Rep. Dan Lungren, R-3rd District of Calif., and subsequently referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means on Jan. 12.

“The purpose of the form was to report services performed by independent contractors that may not otherwise be reported ... to keep everyone honest,” said Brian Kaveney, communications director for Lungren, in an e-mail.

The reporting forms have been declared potentially devastating to small businesses by critics because of the additional reporting needed to be done to comply with the new rules.

Trevor Foughty, communications director for Young, said H.R. 4 should pass the GOP majority in the House of Representatives and the Democratic majority in the Senate with bipartisan support.

“I think you would find most Democrats would agree the (health care) law isn’t perfect,” Foughty said.

Unlike Young’s predecessor, former Rep. Baron Hill, Young took a sharp stance against the health care reform law during last year’s midterm elections.

In addition to co-sponsoring H.R. 4, Young is co-sponsoring H.R. 2, Repealing the
Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, a bill that would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in its entirety.

Although many of the newly elected GOP congressmen vowed to repeal health care reform altogether on the campaign trail, a bill like H.R. 2 would unlikely pass in the Senate and would probably be vetoed by President Obama, Foughty said.

For this reason, Foughty agreed H.R. 4 is just one step of future actions to appeal certain amendments of the law that are looked upon unfavorably by the Republican Party and many Democrats.

“While there are parts of it — or really all of it — that we would like repealed, we want to put emphasis on the goal of lowering the cost of health care,” Foughty said.

All but two of Indiana’s nine U.S. Representatives have signed on to co-sponsor the bill.

Rep. Peter Visclosky, D-1st District, is one of the remaining congressmen who has yet to co-sponsor the bill. When his office was contacted Friday, no one could comment whether or not he will join the list of co-sponsors.

Rep. André Carson, D-7th District, is the other remaining congressmen from Indiana who has not yet showed support for the bill. However, Carson’s press secretary, Jason Tomcsi, said Carson will become a co-sponsor in the upcoming weeks.

Although Carson voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last year, Tomcsi said the congressman agrees this amendment may be too burdensome for small businesses.

“The goal of the health care law was to make it more streamlined and easier for small businesses to provide health insurance for their employees,” Tomcsi said. “That’s why I think you are seeing such wide support — such bipartisan support — for removing this section of the health care law.”