State Sen. Jeb Bradley Talks Healthcare
November 9, 2009Here is the release issued by the NH State Senate on Sen. Jeb Bradley’s press conference detailing health care reform in NH.
Senator Jeb Bradley Talks Healthcare
Concord, NH – Senator Jeb Bradley today outlined two pieces of legislation he will introduce for the 2010 legislative session. Both pieces of legislation will protect New Hampshire taxpayers from the cost of federal health care reform and provide New Hampshire residents and business owners with greater access to affordable health insurance sold in other states. Bradley’s legislation has become more timely and necessary with the passage of healthcare legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated the 10 year cost of Speaker Pelosi’s health care legislation to be $1.055 trillion. However, the federal legislation also expands eligibility for Medicaid and mandates that states pay significant new costs. Bradley’s legislation would prevent this cost from being downshifted to state taxpayers unless authorized by the state legislature.
Bradley cited a study released today by former Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services John Stephen which estimated the ten year cost to New Hampshire taxpayers will be $1.226 billion.
“At a time when New Hampshire taxpayers are emptying their pockets to pay 38 new or increased taxes or fees and still face the prospect of a $200 million dollar shortfall in the current budget and a staggering $600 million hole in the next budget, the very last thing that we need is a huge new unfunded federal mandate. Congressman Paul Hodes and Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter voted for these unfunded mandates which could force New Hampshire to enact an income tax, sales tax or both,” said Bradley. Bradley’s second bill will allow citizens and small business to cross state lines to purchase affordable health insurance for their families and employees. According to a recently released study by the Commonwealth Fund, New Hampshire has the third highest health insurance costs in the nation while at same time consistently ranking as one of the healthiest states.
“We need competition, choice and cost control to improve access to affordable health care not punishing new taxes, huge budget deficits and government control of our health care system. With 53,000 New Hampshire citizens out of work and the national unemployment rate exceeding 10% the decisions we make about health care in Concord and in Washington will have a profound impact on our ability to get our state and nation back to work,” concluded Bradley.
TimothyHorrigan
Nov 9, 2009
Bradley’s LSR’s are as follows. Not sure which are the two he outlined in his press conference. These are listed only by prime sponsor; he may have been just a cosponsor of one or both of the measures he outlined at the presser:
LSR’s Found: 10
2010-H-2021-L title: relative to the distribution of meals and rooms tax revenues to cities and towns.
Sponsors: Jeb Bradley
2010-H-2136-R title: relating to referendums. Providing that the voters can veto laws by referendum.
Sponsors: Jeb Bradley
2010-H-2146-R title: establishing a shoreland advisory council.
Sponsors: Jeb Bradley
2010-H-2221-R title: relative to the required number of instructional days and instructional hours in a school district’s calendar.
Sponsors: Jeb Bradley
2010-H-2230-R title: relative to the sale and transfer procedures for shutdown emission credits.
Sponsors: Jeb Bradley
2010-H-2301-R title: relative to the boundaries of the North Conway water district.
Sponsors: Jeb Bradley
2010-H-2581-L title: establishing a state aeronautical fund.
Sponsors: Jeb Bradley
2010-S-2684-R title: establishing job creation incentives under the business enterprise tax and business profits tax.
Sponsors: (Prime)Jeb Bradley
2010-S-2685-R title: repealing the interest and dividends tax on limited liability companies.
Sponsors: (Prime)Jeb Bradley
2010-S-2686-R title: relative to the reasonable compensation deduction from the business profits tax.
Sponsors: (Prime)Jeb Bradley
TimothyHorrigan
Nov 9, 2009
Oops: I’m sorry, he is a cosponsor of all the 2010-H LSRs and the prime sponsor of the 2010-S ones. There may be a few 2010-S’s which have not made it onto the web site, and of course cosponsors are still being added.
The referendum bill which he is cosponsoring will be massively controversial. I think it is a very bad idea: our current system with a part-time citizen legislature works as well as we can expect. It’s short-sighted to try to put in such a radical change just to kill gay marriage. (Gay marriage in any case would more likely pass than not pass if it was the subject of a hypothetical NH referendum. Even now, there seems to be a pro-marriage equality majority amongst the voters. By the time a constitutional amendment gets passed and goes into effect and a referendum gets held, gay marriage would have been a reality for a few years. The sky would not have fallen in the meantime and there would be several thousand gay married couples in the state— hence less opposition and more support than we have right now.)