CT 05: Chris Murphy gives health care reform the thumbs up

A day after the release of the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office report, which estimates the health care reform package costing $940 billion while reduce the deficit by $138 billion over a ten year period (and reducing the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the second ten year period), Congressman Chris Murphy has made a statement regarding how he's going to vote:

The message from the people I represent is clear – health care costs and health insurance practices are out of control. While nearly every person I meet has a different idea about what the exact fix should be, everyone agrees that doing nothing is not an option. We need to make changes to the current system to provide people access to affordable care, to cut costs for businesses, and to strengthen Medicare for seniors. The changes we need to make to our health care system will only come by transferring power away from the health insurance industry and to consumers. The current health insurance reform bill does this, and that’s why I plan on voting in favor of its final passage.

This bill has real, immediate benefits for people. It closes the Medicare drug donut hole, lowers small business health costs, and insures 18,000 of my constituents that currently don’t have health care. But maybe most importantly, the bill extends the solvency of Medicare for another decade, and cuts the national deficit by $140 billion. That’s real progress that shouldn’t be denied to the people of Connecticut.

Congressman Murphy's office also released a fact sheet that what health care reform will mean for people in the 5th Congressional District.