|
Ted Lieu on Health Care
|
|
No vouchers for Medicare; healthcare is a right
Medicare is currently threatened by political forces that want to turn it into a voucher system. Ted Lieu opposes this, because 'voucher' is just code for 'privatization' and an attempt to redirect funding away from healthcare services. Quality,
affordable healthcare is a right, not a privilege. As a member of Congress, Ted will work to ensure everyone has access to quality and affordable care, including through the expansion and strengthening of Medicare.
Source: 2014 California House campaign website, TedLieu.com
, Oct 10, 2014
Support ObamaCare, but work to make it better
Q: Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act?A: No. As a legislator,
I have voted regularly to support the ACA, including the creation of the health exchange, setting a minimum level of benefits and expanding MediCal.
Additionally, with the increase in health insurance marketing to communities whose first language is not English,
I authored and passed a law to ensure that when insurers advertise in a language other than English, the documents must also be in that language. However, the ACA is not perfect and I would support bills to make it better.
Source: VoteSmart 2014 Cal. Congressional Political Courage Test
, Aug 30, 2014
Expand Medi-Cal eligibility for ObamaCare
Excerpts from Legislative Counsel's Digest:The Legislature finds:- The United States is the only industrialized country in the world without a universal health insurance system.
- 46 million Americans did not have health insurance.
- The Affordable Care Act is the culmination of decades of movement toward health reform
- As a result of the Affordable Care Act, , by 2019, between 1.2 and 1.6 million individuals will be newly enrolled in Medi-Cal.
- It is the intent of the
Legislature to ensure full implementation of the Affordable Care Act, including the Medi-Cal expansion for individuals with incomes below 133% of the federal poverty level.
- This bill would implement the Affordable Care Act by modifying provisions
relating to determining eligibility for Medi-Cal.
Status:Bill passed Assembly, 54 -24-1; passed Senate, 28-8-3; approved by Governor, June 27,ÿ2013. (Lieu voted YEA).
Source: California legislative voting records: ABX1-1
, Jun 15, 2013
GOP can't beat ObamaCare, so they pretend it's a "disaster".
Lieu voted NAY Full Repeal of ObamaCare
Heritage Action Summary: This vote would fully repeal ObamaCare.
Heritage Foundation recommendation to vote YES: (2/3/2015): ObamaCare creates $1.8 trillion in new health care spending and uses cuts to Medicare spending to help pay for some of it. Millions of Americans already have lost, and more likely will lose, their coverage because of ObamaCare. Many Americans have not been able to keep their doctors as insurers try to offset the added costs of ObamaCare by limiting the number of providers in their networks. In spite of the promise, the law increases the cost of health coverage.
Secretary of Labor Robert Reich recommendation to vote NO: (robertreich.org 11/22/2013): Having failed to defeat the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are now hell-bent on destroying the ObamaCare in Americans' minds, using the word "disaster" whenever mentioning the Act, and demand its repeal. Democrats [should] meet the Republican barrage with
three larger truths:
- The wreck of private insurance: Ours has been the only healthcare system in the world designed to avoid sick people. For-profit insurers have spent billions finding and marketing their policies to healthy people--while rejecting people with preexisting conditions, or at high risk.
- We could not continue with this travesty of a healthcare system: ObamaCare is a modest solution. It still relies on private insurers--merely setting minimum standards and "exchanges" where customers can compare policies.
- The moral imperative: Even a clunky compromise like the ACA between a national system of health insurance and a for-profit insurance market depends, fundamentally, on a social compact in which those who are healthier and richer are willing to help those who are sicker and poorer. Such a social compact defines a society.
Legislative outcome: Passed House 239-186-8; never came to a vote in the Senate.
Source: Supreme Court case 15-H0132 argued on Feb 3, 2015
Page last updated: Jun 16, 2020