Illinois Rep. Leading Charge Against Health Care Overhaul
WASHINGTON (WBBM/CBS) -- A freshman Illinois congressman is among those leading the charge to repeal President Barack Obama's overhaul of health care.
As WBBM Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports, Rep. Robert Dold (R-Ill.), who succeeded Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) as Congressman from the north suburban 10th District, sees the health care overhaul as a jobs killer that places undue burdens on businesses.
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He wants it repealed and replaced.
"The federal government should not be coming between any decision you make between your doctor and yourself," Dold said. "If you have the ability to find a plan, anywhere in the country, that you should be able to go and purchase that plan; that we should be able to pool with like businesses."
Dold, who owns a pest control company, says he objects to the parts of the law that weigh down businesses with new costs and new red tape.
The vote to repeal the health care overhaul is largely symbolic, as the Senate remains under Democratic control and is expected to let the measure die. Should it pass through Congress, Obama stands ready with a veto.
But the vote in the House, newly under Republican control, signals the beginning of the Republican effort to chisel away at the law through attempts to deny funding for parts of the legislation as they go into effect in the coming years.
The bill that Obama signed into law in March extended health care coverage over a period of four years to 32 million Americans who now lack it, and put controls on insurance companies that were denying coverage to those with pre-existing ailments or removing protections from those who became ill. The law also gives tax breaks to lower- to middle-income Americans to help with insurance premiums and allows young people to maintain coverage until age 26 under their parents' policy.
The measure - much of which still does not go into effect until 2014 - was signed into law after a year of intense political battles. Obama had won a victory that eluded presidents stretching back almost half a century.
Obama said on Tuesday he was willing to work with Democrats and Republicans to improve the health care law but warned that lawmakers shouldn't "go backward" and repeal the measure.
