FORT MILL TOWNSHIP — Freshman Congressman Mick Mulvaney (R-Indian Land) was one of the first Republicans to speak in support of the bill officially called “Repealing the Job Killing health care law Act” on the House floor last week.

Mulvaney, along with 244 others in the House, voted to repeal the health care act last week, with 189 House members voting against the repeal.

Repealing the health care act was a key issue for Mulvaney on the campaign trail last fall.

The bill is expected to die in the Senate, which still has a Democratic majority, albeit a smaller one since November. But, House Republicans, including Mulvaney, have said the repeal vote is only the first step of a strategy to prevent the health care legislation from being fully implemented. Next, he said, House Republicans will focus on defunding pieces of the health care act to cripple the legislation, including funding for additional IRS employees officials said would be needed to implement a component tied to mandatory coverage.

“They are the primary agency by which it would be enforced and enacted. We are going to deny them the funding for that in the budget,” Mulvaney said.

The House is also working to remove the 1099 filing requirement for businesses in the health care legislation.

Replacement bills for the current health care act are in the works, he added.

For Indian Land mom Cindy Carner, repealing and defunding the health care act is a scary proposition.

Carner’s 2-year-old daughter Pamela had several grand mal seizures when she was 22 months old. Doctors weren’t able to figure out why the seizures occurred and Pamela has been seizure-free since. But when Carner’s husband lost his job, the family was faced with paying more than $1,000 monthly for COBRA. They looked into buying individual health insurance and quickly discovered that Pamela’s seizures could be a problem that follows her for the rest of her life.

Pamela was denied coverage.

“Unless she is covered under an employer’s plan, which depends on a parent’s job, and there are usually 90-day waiting periods, her seizures for one day in December will follow her for the rest of her life and she will not be covered,” Carner said. “We can never get individual health insurance for her unless it is government mandated. That means we can never become self-employed, and we have to make sure my husband’s company will cover our health insurance.”

When portions of the health care act took effect last year, Carner’s family rejoiced because the legislation required insurance companies to insure Pamela and others with pre-existing conditions. But now, with talks of repeal, Carner is worried once again.

Mulvaney said that in the Republican replacement bill, insurance companies would be required to cover high risk pre-existing conditions, but not all pre-existing conditions. A replacement bill would also allow insurance companies to sell policies across state lines, Mulvaney said, and allow insurance to be bought in the same way life and car insurance is bought, but with pre-tax dollars.

“Let’s let people buy their own health insurance on their own, let them do it with pre tax dollars and get the tax discount,” Mulvaney said. “The same free market controls that keep cost in check in other insurance outlets would work with health insurance.”

Despite concerns about Pamela’s ability to be insured in the future, Carner said she’s hopeful that the replacement bills being discussed by Republicans will be something she, and Pamela, can live with.

“I want to see what the Republicans come up with,” Carner said. “More than anything, I really want this to be talked about.”

Courtesy: Lake Wylie Pilot