WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts today voted to repeal Obamacare because it stifles job creation, adds $2.6 trillion to the deficit, cuts Medicare by half a billion dollars, rations care and does nothing to reduce the costs of health care for hardworking Americans.

“We find new problems with this law everyday,” Senator Roberts said. “More than 700 corporations, unions and big businesses have been given waivers allowing them to opt out of the law, while our small businesses face regulations, taxes and penalties that keep them from creating the jobs our nation needs with unemployment rates at nearly 10 percent.

“This government takeover of health care will end up costing many regular Americans the care they currently have which is not what was promised to them by the President.

“Medicare, an already insolvent program, must now cut half a billion dollars from its books. With Dr. Donald Berwick, an advocate for rationing care to control costs, Kansans can expect the federal government to interfere with decisions that are best made between doctor and patient.

“Kansans have sent a message to Congress to repeal the health care law and replace it with commonsense reform that holds down costs and preserves access. I have always supported a commonsense approach including incentives for individual responsibility that allow insurers to reward healthy behaviors, improving transparency in health care quality and costs so that patients have more information on how to best spend their health care dollar, and reducing overall health care costs through reform of our medical liability system.”

Under Obamacare Kansans can expect:

? Approximately 1 million Kansas households making less than $200k will pay higher taxes, based on estimates by the Joint Committee on Taxation;

? 182,000 Kansans in the individual health insurance market will see premium rate increases of up to 49% based upon a BlueCross/BlueShield study and other analyses;

? Kansas small businesses employing 50 or more people, and 2,956 Kansas construction companies employing 5 or more, are expected to pay either higher health care costs or a new penalty because of new government mandates.

The repeal was an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill introduced by Republican Leader U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

Although the McConnell amendment failed, Senator Roberts voted in favor of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow’s (D-MI) amendment, which was approved, to repeal the 1099 reporting requirement for small businesses and charities included in the new health care law. The language was similar to a bill Senator Roberts cosponsored with Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE).

"Unless corrected, this time-wasting mandate of 1099 filings on common purchases needed to do business would have stifled economic growth and job creation while the IRS deals with a paperwork nightmare,” Roberts said. “I heard from many Kansas small businesses and farmers, already burdened with government bureaucracy, that these new reporting requirements would have wasted time and negatively impact their bottom-line. I am glad my colleagues on the other side of the aisle finally acknowledged the need to pass this change.”

Senator Roberts is an original cosponsor of U.S. Senator Jim DeMint’s (R-SC) bill to fully repeal Obamacare. Roberts also cosponsored the bill in the 111th Congress.

Senator Roberts serves on the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions Committee. He is Co-Chairman of the Senate Rural Health Caucus.

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