Washington, D.C. – Rep. Michael C. Burgess, M.D. today joined the rest of the House GOP Doctor’s Caucus to discuss the fourth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act:

Rep. Rep. Michael Burgess, M.D. (TX-26): “This year’s anniversary is of particular importance because it’s the first year that many of the law’s most significant deadlines were due to go into effect. Not surprisingly, the president delayed the implementation of certain provisions of the law over and over, because he finally saw what we as physicians predicted years ago: The law simply doesn’t work. And now that the enrollment deadline is near, how many people have signed up? Where are the statistics? For a president who promised total transparency, the lack of reporting on the law’s effectiveness is almost as troubling as the law itself. Americans deserve better.”

Rep. Phil Gingrey, M.D. (GA-11): “Just four years after President Obama signed his healthcare overhaul into law, American families have realized what House Republicans and I have known to be true all along: Obamacare is one big unaffordable broken promise. Access to physicians has dropped, premiums are rising to unprecedented levels, and millions have been dropped from their insurance plans. The GOP Doctors Caucus and I will continue the fight to fully repeal this law, and replace it with real, market-based, reforms that ensure quality care and preserve the doctor-patient relationship.” 

Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (TN-01): “As a physician, I have seen the challenges that exist in the health care system and came to Congress in part to develop market-based health care reform. I quickly became frustrated when Washington Democrats pushed through partisan, ideologically-driven legislation that didn’t address the most fundamental health care problem in this country: cost. Four years later, we’re seeing our fears become reality as patients lose their doctors, premiums skyrocket, and too many Americans are losing the health care coverage they were promised they could keep. As the president celebrates Obamacare, I promise to continue the fight to shield the American people from it.” 

Rep. Larry Bucshon, M.D. (IN-08): “The American people were sold a list of empty promises in a law that passed without a single Republican vote or input from physician lawmakers,” said Rep. Bucshon, M.D. “As a result, over the past four years we’ve seen the American people lose access to the healthcare and doctors they like, skyrocketing premiums, cuts to Medicare, and a botched website.  While I support policies like covering patients with preexisting conditions, keeping kids on their parents insurance until they are 26, and closing the Medicare donut hole, this near-government takeover of our healthcare system has been a train wreck. House Republicans do not want to revert back to the status quo.  We have put forth common-sense reforms that drive down the cost of care and put the patient back in charge of their healthcare decisions.  As a physician, I want every American to have access to quality, affordable healthcare and that can only be accomplished by repealing and replacing most of the ACA.” 

Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06): “Four years ago, President Obama signed Obamacare into law and unleashed a wave of new taxes, spending, and regulations that are giving Washington an increasingly destructive role in the health care of the American people. As many predicted, putting Washington bureaucrats in charge violates every one of our health care principles – whether we are talking affordability, accessibility, quality, innovation, choices or responsiveness. Moreover, the Obama Administration and its allies in Congress have wasted four years incompetently implementing all the rules and regulations that are causing such havoc today while ignoring the numerous alternative reform ideas that are out there. There are many positive solutions that have been offered to fix what ails our health care system, to solve insurance challenges like pre-existing conditions and portability, to increase coverage options and lower health care costs, and to do it all without putting Washington in charge.”

Rep. Renee Ellmers (NC-01): "Today marks the fourth anniversary of President Obama's assault on our nation's health care system - a mandated takeover of 1/6th of our nation's economy. The president's overhaul did nothing to make our citizens healthier and protect them from harm. Rather, Obamacare is and remains a redistribution of control. Its primary objective is to take healthcare decisions away from physicians and hospitals and place them in the hands of bureaucrats within the federal government. I ran for office in order to defund, dismantle, repeal, and replace Obamacare. I will not rest until the entire law is repealed."

Rep. Paul Broun, M.D. (GA-10): “Four years after Obamacare was signed into law, we are continuing to see its devastating impact on our economy, jobs, and the quality of healthcare. While I have been a staunch opponent of Obamacare from the very start, there is no question now that this law is unaffordable, unworkable, and unfixable - it must be fully repealed and replaced.  As Obamacare continues to unravel at every turn, I will fight to put in place free-market, patient-centered solutions, such as my Patient OPTION Act, that will empower patients when it comes to making their healthcare decisions.”

Rep. Charles Boustany, M.D. (LA-03): “Four years ago, President Obama signed Obamacare into law. Since then, Americans have received notice they will lose their current coverage while health care premiums continue to climb – solely due to the law. I will continue to stand against this law with alternatives shown to lower costs. The authors of Obamacare broke their promise to families and small businesses across South Louisiana.”

Rep. Joe Heck, M.D. (NV-03): "Four years later and we are finally starting ‘to see what's in' the deeply flawed healthcare law. From policy cancellations and premium hikes to website troubles and restrictions on healthcare options for seniors, this law fundamentally changes the way we provide healthcare in this country and my physician's opinion is that it is not for the better. One of the reason's I ran for Congress was because I was concerned about the direction this law would take our country and I have worked with my colleagues in the Doc Caucus to bring a physician’s perspective to the ongoing healthcare debates in Congress. The diagnosis for the ACA is clear: the law must be repealed, repaired, and replaced with common sense reforms that actually expand access to quality healthcare and reduce costs."  

Rep. John Fleming, M.D. (LA-04): "Obamacare is an unworkable mess. In its short four years of life, Obamacare has put Americans through the loss of health providers and health insurance, it's doubled premiums, carries a $2 trillion taxpayer price tag, and is hammering businesses with job-destroying mandates. The only thing happy about this anniversary is that we're closer to Obamacare imploding beneath the weight of its own failed mandates and regulations.  Anything I can do to help nudge it that way, I will."

The GOP Doctors Caucus: Utilizing medical expertise to develop patient-centered health care reforms focused on quality, access, affordability, portability, and choice.

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