House Republican doctors released a "healthcare state of the union" video Wednesday that criticizes President Obama's signature healthcare law but does not mention repealing it.
The video shows floor speeches from frequent critics of the healthcare law, including Reps. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) and Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.). It shows lawmakers arguing that the Affordable Care Act will raise costs and criticizing its taxes on medical devices.
"There's a saying: If you want to discourage something, tax it … is that the same thinking we have about innovative medical devices?" Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) says in the video. "Are they all of a sudden not a good idea? Because that's exactly what this bill does, it taxes them."
Republicans have narrowed their focus since Obama won a second term, moving from calls for all-out repeal to a more targeted campaign against certain provisions — including the device tax and a new board tasked with slowing the growth in Medicare spending.
The GOP video also criticizes the healthcare law because it did not replace Medicare's payment formula for physicians. (House Democrats attempted to include a permanent fix in their version of healthcare reform, but did not pay for the provision and were blocked by Republicans.)
Gingrey pledged that the GOP-controlled House would advance a permanent fix, ending the expensive cycle of stopgap measures to temporarily avert enormous cuts in Medicare's payments to doctors.
