Dem Rep.: ‘Fortunately for Me, I Voted Against’ ObamaCare Because I Read the Bill
LYNCH: "Now I’ve got the unions, a lot of whom are in favor of the bill, now asking me to repeal it, 'vote to repeal it.' They are coming to me. I’m a union member a former union president. I got these unions saying repeal this thing. Fortunately for me, I voted against it to begin with. I voted against the Affordable Care Act because unlike some people I actually sat down and read it and it was one of the most complex bills I have read. I had a full staff helping me with questions on that. I think that this has presented a lot of problems for people who thought they were going to benefit from this plan. How do I fix this? How do I fix this so that previously good employers who are trying to do the right thing by their employees will continue to do that? Because these construction workers they don’t work 52 weeks a year. They get laid off in between jobs. They have bad weather. They have broken time. So they needed this format to provide for their families to get health insurance. Now, these good employers are running away from their health care obligations because they see this tax coming down the road in 2018. A lot of them are refusing to agree up on their collective bargaining agreements. They are walking away. How do we help these employees? Because now they are being told, go to the exchange, we don’t do that anymore. We are out of the health care business. How do we help those folks?"
GRUBER: "Well, Congressman Lynch, I’m not an expert on collective bargaining agreements and I can't contribute on that."
LYNCH: "I guess."
GRUBER: "What I can say is that the way the cadillac tax was designed there is no reason that these employers can’t provide affordable and comprehensive insurance under the provisions of the cadillac tax."
LYNCH: "For every dollar over the limit they are paying $1.40."
GRUBER: "Once again, given where the limit is set there is no reason they can’t provide affordable and comprehensive insurance to their employees under the cadillac tax."
LYNCH: "Wait a minute. They are competing with other employers on a bid, so you know how this works. If we are bidding on a construction project and you have 49 employees and I have 150, my bid includes $13 an hour for health care. Your bid is zero. How do I win the bid if I’m putting for every man hour on the job I’m putting $13 an hour on my bid and you are putting zero on yours? How do I win? I’m out of business."
GRUBER: "There has been a long standing problem —"
