Decision Sets The Stakes For November’s Election

Two years ago Tim Kaine, despite knowing it would raise taxes and cut seniors’ Medicare, told Virginians that ObamaCare would be “one of the great achievements” of this Administration, and today the Supreme Court has affirmed Kaine’s decision to put President Obama’s agenda ahead of Virginia seniors and small businesses.  In doing so, the Court has made clear what is at stake in November’s election.

“The Supreme Court’s decision makes clear that the only way to stop the massive tax increases, government spending, and cuts to Medicare contained in ObamaCare is to ensure Tim Kaine does not make it to the United States Senate.  Virginians deserve a Senator who will listen and stand up for Virginia first and foremost, and not simply do President Obama’s bidding,” National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Spokesman Brian Walsh said today.

BACKGROUND…. 

Kaine Has Been A Vocal Supporter Of Obamacare

Kaine Said Health Care Would Be One Of Obama’s Great Achievements And Good For The American Public 

Kaine: “[I] Think Health Care Reform Is Going To Go Down In History As One Of The Great Achievements Of This President.” (CNN’s “State Of The Union,” 1/2/11)

Kaine Called The Health Care Overhaul One Of Obama’s “Proudest Achievements.” “So the president made health insurance reform a priority — and the Affordable Care Act remains one of his proudest achievements.” (Tim Kaine, Op-Ed, “The President’s Progress,” Politico, 12/31/10)

Kaine: “The Passage Of This Health Care Reform, And We’re Very Close To It, Is Going To Be The Biggest Step Forward In Domestic Policy Since Social Security Or Medicare, And It’s Also The Biggest Deficit Reduction Bill That’s Been Passed By Congress In The Last Ten Years.” (2:15)  (MSNBC, www.youtube.com, Posted 12/22/09)

Kaine Said The Health Care Overhaul Was “Further Evidence Of The Change President Obama Has Been Able To Bring About.” Kaine: “The passage of reform today is a monumental accomplishment. This historic legislation is further evidence of the change President Obama has been able to bring about.” (Andrew Malcolm, “What Each Said About The Healthcare Vote: Obama, John Boehner, Tim Kaine, Michael Steele,” Los Angeles Times’ Top Of The Ticket Blog, www.latimes.com, Posted 3/22/10)

In 2010, Kaine Said He Wanted To Be Out On The Campaign Trail Promoting Obamacare. KAINE: “[L]et me, let me focus on it, because I think you’ve asked an excellent question. Will the campaigns of 2010 be heavily focused on health care? You will have the Republican Party campaigning to repeal this historic health bill that will pass. You’ll have me and my team out promoting it. I want to have that campaign.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 1/10/10)

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine On ObamaCare: “[T]his Is Going To Be Great For Democrats. You Know, I’ve Been On A Ballot Seven Times And Won Seven Races. I Would Love To Be Running On This. And I Think The Extreme Nature Of The Rhetoric Just Shows How Worried The Other Guys Are.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 3/21/10)

On Health Care, Kaine Said When The American People “Immediately See The Benefits,” Then Health Care Would Be “A Great Thing Politically For The Dems.” AMANPOUR: “You mentioned health care. I want to say something that you, yourself, said about this issue when it comes to elections.” KAINE: “OK, great.” (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAINE: “When make this happen, and people immediately see the benefits that are going to come their way, I think this is going to be a great thing politically for the Dems. And we’re trying to show members that they’ve got their constituents behind them if they vote with the president.” (ABC’s “This Week,” 10/24/10) 

Kaine Said Virginia “Stands To Benefit” From Health Care Reform

Kaine Said Virginia Would Benefit From Obamacare. KAINE: “I think Virginia stands to benefit, much as do other American states, from finally passing meaningful healthcare reform.” (NBC’s “Meet The Press,” 1/10/10) 

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND….. 

ObamaCare Costs To Virginia Alone 

The Heritage Foundation Estimates From 2014 To 2020 ObamaCare Will Cost Virginia An Additional $489.8 Million. (Edmund Haislmaier and Brian Blasé, “Obamacare: Impact On States,” The Heritage Foundation, 7/1/10)

ObamaCare Will Cost Virginia $1.47 Billion Throughout The Next 12 Years. “In Virginia, where officials say the overhaul will cost $1.47 billion over the next 12 years, McDonnell has called the law a ‘historic and unfunded federal mandate on the states’ and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II has bemoaned its possible impact on the bottom line.”(Rosalind S. Helderman and Aaron C. Davis, “Health-Care Overhaul’s Costs To Virginia And Maryland Unclear,” The Washington Post’s Breaking News Blog,” 6/25/10)

• The Cost Through Through 2022 Was $400 Million More Than An Earlier Estimate. “The McDonnell administration increased its estimate for Virginia’s cost of President Obama’s health care overhaul to about $1.5 billion through 2022, a roughly $400 million jump from the governor’s initial forecast. … The upward revision is mostly because of bad news from the federal government on how 80,000 low-income children and teens will be covered under the new law. When the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services made the first estimate, it assumed those youths would stay in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, which provides the state with a generous federal match, said Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. Bill Hazel. … ‘In the new plan, [the youths] get converted to standard Medicaid, which means we get a lower federal match, which means it costs us more m oney,’ Hazel told The Washington Examiner.” (William C. Flook, “McDonnell: Obamacare Will Cost Virginia $1.5 Billion,” The Washington Examiner, 5/18/10)

In 2010, Healthcare Spending In Virginia Accounted For $25 Billion, Or 5.91 Percent Of The State’s GDP. (“Gross Domestic Product By State (GDP By State) Interactive Maps,” Bureau Of Economic Analysis, Accessed 5/20/12)

Virginians Are Losing Their Insurance Policies 

Virginia One Of 34 States To Lose A Child Only Insurance Policy Since ObamaCare Was Signed Into Law. (US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Minority Oversight and Investigations Staff Phone and Email Preliminary Survey, Politico, 1/27/11)

Optima Health Discontinued Medicare Advantage For 14,000 People In Virginia. “Optima Health will discontinue its Medicare Value and Value Plus plans, effective Dec. 31, the company confirmed. ‘This was not an easy decision on our part. We did everything we could to try to make this thing work,’ said John DeGruttola, senior vice president of sales and marketing. ‘But after looking at our financials, and looking at the inadequate federal funding, we determined this product was not a viable product for us.’ …Optima, which is Sentara Healthcare’s health insurance arm, started offering Medicare Advantage plans in 2005. The nearly 14,000 Medicare Value and Value Plus plan members make up about 3 percent of Optima’s 430,000 total members.” (Veronica Chufo, “Optima Will Discontinue Medicare Advantage Plan,” The Daily Press, 9/27/11)

Taxes/Effect On Virginia Businesses & Jobs 

Virginia Small Business Owner Said Health Care Bill “Detrimental To The Incentive To Grow And Provide Jobs For People.” “Karch, for example, said 95 percent of the staff at Home Instead Senior Care work part time, but he technically has more than 50 full-time equivalent employees. He said he doesn’t know if that means he has to provide health insurance for all his employees or just those who work full time. If part-timers are included, he said he’d either have to shut down or raise his rates. ‘As a small business owner, I definitely feel this legislation is detrimental to the incentive to grow and provide jobs for people, especially people that, for a variety of reasons, can only work part time,’ Karch said.” (Cathy Jett, “Reform Getting Mixed Reviews,” The Free Lance Star, 4/3/10)

In 2009, A Virginia Cardiologist Said Medicare Cuts Will Force Him, Other Small-Town Doctors To Close Their Offices. “The cuts would be ‘impossible’ for some small-town cardiologists who rely on Medicare patients, said Zia Roshandel, a heart doctor in Culpeper, Virginia. The town of 10,000 people is about 60 miles southwest of Washington … If the proposal stands, ‘the bottom line is I’m going to close the office,’ he said. ‘This is impossible for me to survive.’“ (Alex Nussbaum & Lisa Rapaport, “Cardiologists Crying Foul Over Obama Medicare Cuts,” Bloomberg, 8/28/09)

Richmond, VA-Based Brink’s Took A $14 Million Charge From ObamaCare. “The Brink’s Company, a global leader in security-related services, reported a first-quarter loss from continuing operations of $5 million ($.10 per share) versus income of $22 million last year ($.48 per share). Results include an income tax charge of $14 million ($.28 per share) related to recently enacted U.S. healthcare legislation.” (The Brink’s Company, “Brink’s Reports First-Quarter Results,” Press Release, 4/29/10)

Virginia’s Norfolk Southern Took A $27 Million Charge For New Health Care Costs. “Norfolk Southern Corp. has announced it will pay about $27 million more in expenses for the first quarter of the year as a result of federal health care legislation signed last month. ‘Under the new legislation, to the extent the corporation’s future health-care drug expenses are reimbursed under the Medicare Part D retiree drug subsidy program, the reimbursed expenses will no longer be tax deductible after 2012,’ the company stated in a filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.” (Robert McCabe, “Norfolk Southern To Pay $27M More After Health Care Bill,” The Virginian-Pilot, 4/8/10) 

Additionally, Gail Johnson the CEO of Rainbow Station, a franchise based in Glen Allen that offers nationally accredited early childhood education and school age recreation programs has called the tax increases that Kaine advocated for a “job smasher.” 

Editorial/Commentary 

The Times-Dispatch On This Move: “The Word ‘Contemptible’ Ought To Be Used Sparingly In Politics. But The Obama Administration’s Latest Maneuver Merits The Term.” “The word ‘contemptible’ ought to be used sparingly in politics. But the Obama administration’s latest maneuver merits the term.” (Editorial, “Politics: Heads They Win…,” The Times-Dispatch, 5/24/12)

• The Times-Dispatch: The Administration Tried To “Intimidate Insurance Companies Into Silence.” “Even if the claim that the law will raise premiums were highly dubious, the administration was wrong to try to intimidate insurance companies into silence. Nevertheless, it did so. And now it is forcing those same insurance companies to give it the credit for any premium reductions.” (Editorial, “Politics: Heads They Win…,” The Times-Dispatch, 5/24/12)
• The Times-Dispatch: “There Are Other Words Besides ‘Contemptible’ To Describe Such Edicts, But Most Of Them Are Not Printable In A Family Newspaper.” “There are other words besides ‘contemptible’ to describe such edicts, but most of them are not printable in a family newspaper.” (Editorial, “Politics: Heads They Win…,” The Times-Dispatch, 5/24/12) 

At A Bloomberg Breakfast On Wednesday, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) Said ObamaCare Cost Obama “A Lot Of Credibility As A Leader.” “‘I’ll be real frank here,’ Webb said at a breakfast organized by Bloomberg News. ‘I think that the manner in which the health-care reform issue was put in front of the Congress, the way that the issue was dealt with by the White House, cost Obama a lot of credibility as a leader.’” (Karen Tumulty, “Jim Webb: Health Care Law Represents A Leadership Failure For Obama,” The Washington Post , 4/18/12)

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA): “From That Point Forward, Obama’s Had A Difficult Time Selling Himself As A Decisive Leader.” (Jeffry Bartash, “Pair Of Top Democrats Lament Obama’s Health Care Push,” The Wall Street Journal’s “ Market Watch,” 4/19/12)

The Richmond Times-Dispatch: ObamaCare Causing Higher Health Care Costs, Higher Deficits, And Higher Taxes.   “The critics’ predictions — it’s going to raise health care costs, the deficit, taxes, and insurance premiums, make getting medical care more complex, and help fewer people than advertised — are coming true already. Members of the public understand this all too well.” (Editorial, “Health Care: ‘You Dummies,’” The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/27/10)

• The Richmond Times-Dispatch: “Democrats And An Often Sympathetic Media Are Trying, Once Again, To Tell Voters They Would Like A Lousy Law If Only They Had Enough Brains.” (Editorial, “Health Care: ‘You Dummies,’” The Richmond Times-Dispatch, 9/27/10)