WASHINGTON – Thanks to U.S. Representative Brad Ellsworth’s (D-IN) rubberstamp support for President Barack Obama’s contentious health spending bill in Washington, new details continue to emerge regarding the damaging effects of this new law, which endangers thousands of Hoosier jobs, cuts Medicare by $500 billion and will reduce benefits and raise costs for Indiana seniors.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Many insurance companies are planning to increase costs for a range of services for seniors next year, according to consultants who have helped prepare their bids. Dozens of Medicare Advantage providers plan to cut back vision, dental and prescription benefits. Some plans are eliminating free teeth cleanings and gym memberships, and raising fees for hearing aides [sic], eye glasses and emergency-room visits…

This news comes on the heels of a recent government report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) that the Democrats’ bill would cost even more than Democrats like Ellsworth originally claimed. The Obama Administration’s own Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also reported that the new law will raise some premiums, despite the Democrats’ promises to the contrary.

Earlier this year, another HHS report found that Ellsworth’s new health care law will break another Democrat promise by failing to control runaway costs. According to the Associated Press, the report also warned that Medicare cuts may be unrealistic and unsustainable, driving about 15 percent of hospitals into the red and “possibly jeopardizing access” to care for seniors.

The Associated Press reminded Hoosier voters today that Ellsworth’s bill also imposes a new medical device tax that will unduly burden one of Indiana’s leading job creators.

Medical device manufacturers are bristling over a key provision in the nation’s new health care law which they say forces them to shoulder an unfair cost of expanded insurance coverage.  A 2.3 percent excise tax on companies that supply medical devices like heart defibrillators and surgical tools to hospitals, health centers and ambulance services will cost medical device manufacturers an estimated $20 billion in new taxes over the next decade. And they say that will force them to lay off workers and curb the research and development of new medical tools.

And the Indianapolis Star editorialized earlier this year, “Approximately 300 medical device companies in the state provide jobs for 18,500 Hoosiers directly and for another estimated 76,000 indirectly. Because Indiana is the third-largest-producing state of medical devices, Hoosier companies will pay a disproportionately high share of the tax.”

“Once again, Hoosiers are reminded that Brad Ellsworth put Nancy Pelosi and President Obama’s priorities before his constituents’ best interests when he voted to endanger their jobs, raise their costs and cut their benefits with his health spending bill,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokeswoman Amber Marchand. “There’s no doubt that Indiana voters will hold Ellsworth accountable for his misplaced priorities when they elect Dan Coats as their next Senator this November.”