WASHINGTON, June 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/
-- Congressman Tom Reed (R-NY)
joined Matter of Fact with Soledad
O'Brien on Sunday to voice his opposition of the Justice
Department's decision to not defend the Obamacare individual
mandate.
Reed expressed his support for not blowing the healthcare system
up, but for Democrats and Republicans to stop playing the game of
power politics and to sit down and legislate for the betterment of
the American people.
Transcript:
Congressman Reed: What the lawsuit represents is an
attacking on the pre- existing condition's. That is something I
don't support – and I understand the constitutional argument and
what we're dealing with is a case coming through the Texas court... and it reaffirms to me that we
need to deal with this issue... We need to legislatively come up
with solutions to the problems of health care. That's where the
work we're doing in the Problem Solvers Caucus. For example, I
co-chair on the Republican side a – 24 Democratic members and (a
24) Republican member (caucus) who come together and put together
proposals to solve problems. And we did this on the individual
marketplace in healthcare. That's the type of effort I'm more
supportive of. Let's go through the process of legislating and
engage the American people in an honest debate. As I travel the
country, I hear the exact same concerns echoed by our folks of
Western New York – costs continue
to go through the roof, health care costs, and then correspondingly
health insurance costs go up. We need to come to solutions
that are going to drive these costs down.
Soledad O'Brien: But if
there's an effort to get rid of the protections for people with
pre-existing conditions- I think it would be devastating
politically – not counting people who are on Medicare – there are
300,000 people in your district who have preexisting conditions.
Obviously, that's an -- that's an estimate. How have they been
talking to you about how they feel about this, and how are you –
how much are you concerned politically?
Congressman Reed: Well, I never really put
politics first… But it's really about solving problems for people.
I mean, I'm the father of a type 1 diabetic, diagnosed at four, is
now 18 going off to college. You know if you're going to wipe the
protections of pre-existing conditions of the book, you're going to
impact people like my son, and I get that. That is why this is not
the path to take in regard to removing the pre-existing condition…
I'm trying to be a voice to say it's not about who has power – It's
about the American people. It's about the American people who
suffer while this town plays this game of power politics. And I'm
sick and tired of that too. That's why I co-chair the problem
solvers caucus. That's why I'm willing to embrace and engage in
some very contentious, honest disagreements, because we need to do
more of that.
Contact: William Reinert,
will.reinert@mail.house.gov
View original content with
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/rep-reed-breaks-with-gop-to-defend-pre-existing-conditions-300667497.html
SOURCE Rep. Tom Reed