Sensenbrenner Responds to President Obama's Address to Congress

Please see the below statement by Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), regarding President Obama's speech this evening.

"Tonight, we heard more rhetoric from President Obama. In his speech, the President said he wanted to hold insurance companies accountable, however, I want to hold the President accountable to his words. In the case of health care reform, everyone needs to be held accountable for their actions to the public. The American public needs to see transparency in this process.

"President Obama sourced several items in which he claims Republicans provided "misinformation," however, he, himself was guilty of several points of misinformation this evening.

"First, President Obama said that "nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have." This is misinformation at BEST. A person may not be "required" to change coverage, however, when that person's place of employment finds it's more cost effective for their employees to be on the public option than pay for health coverage, employees won't have another option.

"Next, the President said, "I will protect Medicare." Yet, he also said, "reducing the waste and inefficiency in Medicare and Medicaid will pay for most of this plan." I'd like the President to show me the money when it comes to Medicare, because there are 27,156 seniors in the Fifth District who use Medicare Advantage, and I know that President Obama's party has proposed harmful cuts to the program.

"Third, he said "a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option," however, I'm questioning what Town Hall Meetings he was watching, because the outcry against this plan the past several weeks could be seen and felt from sea to shining sea.

"Fourth, he was disingenuous in saying illegal immigrants would not receive health care coverage. Under the current law, emergency rooms are required to treat all patients that walk through their doors. It is therefore up to the President to fulfill his promise.

"Finally, as one more example, the President said he knows "that defensive medicine may be contributing to unnecessary costs," and that he was "proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine." I believe to improve health care in this country we need complete medical liability reform, as it is one of the ways we can reduce healthcare costs.

"Tomorrow I will send a letter to President Obama offering my help with medical liability reform, as this is a needed way to improve the health care system while cutting costs. If the President is truly serious about working across the aisle and listening to ideas, I hope he'll accept my assistance. We passed tort reform several times when I was the House Judiciary Committee Chairman, only for it to be killed in the Senate. Now is the time to make it a reality.

"I agree with the president that we need to fix what's broken, rather than start from scratch. I agree that insurance companies should not be allowed to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions or drop coverage when someone is sick. BUT, to do this we need to work together. It's not enough to just talk about bipartisanship in a speech and cite a few examples from both sides of the aisle. Republicans should also be invited to the table to hash out the details and develop a meaningful solution that the people can understand and have confidence in."