From our friends at the Club for Growth:
“NO” on PCIP Extension Bill (HR 1549)
The Pre-Existing Conditions Insurance Plan (PCIP) is a program that even President Obama found to be too expensive. Enrollment was below expectations and it was overrun with costs.
This proposal would further extend the federal government’s role in healthcare. Because this bill eliminates a previous requirement for enrollees to be uninsured for six months, it creates the moral hazard of avoiding insurance until it is needed and provides an extra incentive for people to enroll in federally-run insurance.
Furthermore, this bill does nothing to lower healthcare costs, which should always be the goal of any health reform proposal. There are numerous ways to provide private insurance to people with pre-existing conditions. This includes making insurance portable when changing jobs, giving individuals the same tax break that employees receive, allowing a national market for insurance, and allowing mandate-free insurance. If high-risk pools need to be established, they should be created and maintained at the state level with no interference from the federal government. Finally, the fact that this bill is offset with the repeal of another ObamaCare program is irrelevant. ObamaCare as a whole was financed in part with borrowed money, so this bill will only contribute to more debt. Fiscal conservatives should be squarely focused on repealing ObamaCare, not strengthening it by supporting the parts that are politically attractive.
Our Congressional Scorecard for the 113th Congress provides a comprehensive rating of how well or how poorly each member of Congress supports pro-growth, free-market policies and will be distributed to our members and to the public.
