SCS CSHJR 14(HSS): Requesting the United States Congress, the Governor, and the state's congressional delegation to take actions necessary to delay implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
00 SENATE CS FOR CS FOR HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 14(HSS) 01 Requesting the United States Congress, the Governor, and the state's congressional 02 delegation to take actions necessary to delay implementation of the Patient Protection 03 and Affordable Care Act. 04 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 05 WHEREAS, on March 23, 2010, the United States Congress passed H.R. 3590, the 06 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (P.L. 111-148), a monumental expansion of 07 government in the United States; and 08 WHEREAS the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides for 09 implementation over a period of years; and 10 WHEREAS implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will lead to 11 a massive takeover of the health care industry, increase health care costs, result in higher 12 taxes, destroy jobs, reduce the quality of health care, decrease the number of individuals 13 buying private insurance, and impair the ability of businesses to grow, compete, and create 14 jobs in the state; and 15 WHEREAS the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act could cause 10,000,000
01 Americans who currently receive health insurance through their employers to lose this 02 coverage; and 03 WHEREAS, if the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is implemented, health 04 insurance premiums for those currently receiving health insurance through their employers 05 will increase by 10 to 13 percent; and 06 WHEREAS Alaska's two largest health insurance providers, Premera Blue Cross 07 Blue Shield of Alaska and Aetna Life Insurance Company, both plan to increase premiums 08 between 30 and 80 percent for individual policies if the Patient Protection and Affordable 09 Care Act is implemented; and 10 WHEREAS the total estimated cost of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 11 is estimated to be at least $2,600,000,000,000, nearly three times greater than the estimated 12 cost originally stated by President Obama in 2009; and 13 WHEREAS it is projected that the Act will lead to the loss of 800,000 jobs in the 14 United States by the end of the decade; and 15 WHEREAS, under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, health insurance 16 will cost individuals an average of $2,500 a year more than the cost of insurance under the 17 current system of traditional health insurance; and 18 WHEREAS the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will increase the overall 19 cost of health care for families and employers; and 20 WHEREAS, since its enactment, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has 21 cost American employers and employees, including employers and employees in Alaska, 22 billions of dollars in higher health insurance premiums; and 23 WHEREAS the new investment tax for employee-provided health insurance under 24 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, at the proposed rate of 2.9 percent, would 25 lower household disposable income by $17,300,000,000 a year; and 26 WHEREAS new taxes imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 27 have eliminated jobs since the bill was passed and will continue to eliminate jobs in industries 28 providing health insurance; and 29 WHEREAS taxes imposed by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act are 30 burdensome to employers; and 31 WHEREAS Darden Restaurants, Inc., which operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden, and
01 five other restaurant chains, has transferred nearly 75 percent of the chain's employees from 02 full-time to part-time status in an attempt to limit the number of employees for whom health 03 insurance is mandated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and 04 WHEREAS McDonald's USA Corporation is considering many options, including 05 reducing the number of its full-time employees, to reduce the effects of health care costs 06 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and 07 WHEREAS an executive with White Castle, Inc., and the National Restaurant 08 Association told the Oversight and Government Reform Committee of the United States 09 House of Representatives that uncertainty and the projected 28 percent increase in health care 10 cost to the restaurant industry under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has 11 limited the industry's ability to create jobs; and 12 WHEREAS the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act imposes 21 new or higher 13 taxes on families and businesses in Alaska and nationwide, including 12 taxes on families 14 making less than $250,000 a year; and 15 WHEREAS the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes a health 16 insurance tax which is a tax on the net premiums for health insurance companies that will 17 raise the cost to already struggling small businesses of providing health insurance because the 18 tax burden will be passed on to the consumer; and 19 WHEREAS, to implement and enforce mandated health insurance coverage under the 20 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the role of government will be expanded through 21 the creation of 159 new federal bureaucracies and the hiring of 16,000 new government 22 agents; and 23 WHEREAS 12 percent of small business employers have either had their health 24 insurance plans terminated or have been told that their plans would not be available in the 25 future because of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; and 26 WHEREAS one survey has found that 20 percent of small employers that currently 27 offer health insurance coverage to their employees expect to change their benefits packages 28 significantly, including raising the employee share of health insurance costs, the next time 29 they renew their health insurance plans; and 30 WHEREAS changes in employee benefits resulting from the Patient Protection and 31 Affordable Care Act will decrease health insurance benefits and coverage while increasing
01 employees' share of the cost of health insurance; and 02 WHEREAS small businesses, by employing tens of millions of workers, make up the 03 backbone of the economies of the state and the nation; and 04 WHEREAS, because small employers create the vast majority of jobs, placing 05 additional burdens on small businesses hampers expansion of the economy and the job 06 creation needed to allow our economy to recover and grow; and 07 WHEREAS, of the tens of millions of Americans at risk of losing their health care 08 coverage as a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 80 percent work for 09 small businesses under insurance plans at risk of being lost; and 10 WHEREAS, before the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was enacted, a 11 survey of American businesses found that approximately 30 percent of small businesses in the 12 United States anticipated dropping people from coverage if the Patient Protection and 13 Affordable Care Act became law; and 14 WHEREAS, since the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 15 2010, more than 13,000 pages of federal government regulations have been adopted to 16 implement the Act; and 17 WHEREAS regulations implementing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 18 have already caused great uncertainty, slowing economic growth and limiting hiring 19 opportunities for approximately 13,000,000 unemployed Americans; and 20 WHEREAS the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act places an additional 21 burden on small business owners by requiring them to file additional tax information for each 22 vendor from whom they purchase goods and services each year; and 23 WHEREAS, beginning in 2016, the penalty for an individual with health insurance 24 that does not meet the currently undefined "minimum essential coverage" required by the 25 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will be $695 or 2.5 percent of the individual's 26 annual income, whichever is greater; and 27 WHEREAS the projected cost for the state to establish and operate the health 28 insurance exchange program mandated under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 29 will exceed the amount of revenue generated by the program and will require either additional 30 funding from the state general fund or increased fees to be paid by consumers; and 31 WHEREAS the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act expands the role of
01 government and controls one-sixth of the nation's economy; 02 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls on the United States 03 Congress to pass legislation to delay the implementation of the Patient Protection and 04 Affordable Care Act until a full analysis of the Act's economic effects, including job losses in 05 the state, can be clearly quantified; and be it 06 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature calls on the state's 07 Congressional delegation to introduce, sponsor, support, and vote to pass legislation in both 08 houses of the United States Congress that will delay the implementation of the Patient 09 Protection and Affordable Care Act until a full analysis of the economic effect of the Act on 10 Alaskans and Alaska can be clearly quantified; and be it 11 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature will not support 12 implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act until it can be shown that 13 the Act does not significantly raise business costs and does not create considerable economic 14 uncertainty; and be it 15 FURTHER RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 16 Governor to take actions necessary to delay the implementation of the Patient Protection and 17 Affordable Care Act in the state to protect Alaskans and the state's economy from the onerous 18 taxes and regulations contained in the law. 19 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of 20 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 21 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of 22 Representatives; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of 23 Representatives; the Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the 24 Honorable Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; and the Honorable Lisa 25 Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 26 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.