‘Not Ted Kennedy Reform’: Rep. Lynch Defends Vote Against Health Care Bill

By Bob Oakes and Benjamin Swasey
Mar 19, 2010, 1:35 PM
16 Comments

BOSTON — Despite appeals from fellow Democratic legislators, an Oval Office session with President Obama and a meeting with the widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, Rep. Stephen Lynch on Friday staunchly defended his intention to vote against the president’s health care overhaul.

Speaking to WBUR, Lynch invoked the late champion of health care as part of the rationale for his decision. “I don’t think this is true reform,” Lynch said. “This is not Ted Kennedy reform.”

Should health care fail on Sunday, Lynch denied that his vote would tarnish the cause Kennedy fought decades for.

“This is about the people who will be affected,” Lynch said. “I would feel greater guilt if I were to support something that allowed the insurance companies to continue to operate as they have and create a situation that Ted Kennedy stood against.”

“I think we’re surrendering. The House bill that I voted for was a compromise, but this is a total surrender of all the things that people who truly believed in reform were pursuing.”

– Rep. Stephen Lynch

House members have reported taking thousands of calls and e-mails from constituents, ahead of Sunday’s vote. Lynch said his office has been flooded by South Boston constituents — the majority of which have expressed their opposition to reform.

“We’ve been hearing loud and clear from them for quite a while,” Lynch said. “They are, I would say, about 70-30 or 75-25 against the reform … of the Senate bill.”

Lynch received similar calls against his decision to vote for the House health bill in November. He said there is “a calculus that you make on every vote,” weighing constituency opinion with what you believe are “good bills.”

And Mr. Obama’s health care proposal, which is closely aligned with the version the Senate passed on Christmas Eve, does not meet Lynch’s criteria.

“The Senate bill, unlike the one we’ve passed and that I supported in the House, has stripped most of the significant reform out of the bill,” he said.

Lynch cited three main differences between the House and Senate versions: The House bill repeals the anti-trust exemption for insurance companies and allows states to adopt a public option. The House version also introduces an excise tax on high-income earners, while the Senate bill relies on the so-called “Cadillac tax” on high-cost plans — which, Lynch said, “weakens the underpinnings of the funding mechanism for this whole expansion.”

The latest version of the health care overhaul merely maintains the existing system, rather than enacting systemic reform, Lynch said. He has to vote for “one bill at a time,” he said, rather than relying on promises of further reform later, and expressed doubts about the Senate’s ability to pass legislation.

“There’s a better way to do this,” Lynch said. “I think we’re surrendering. The House bill that I voted for was a compromise, but this is a total surrender of all the things that people who truly believed in reform were pursuing.”

The South Boston congressman said that Mr. Obama, in the White House meeting, conceded that his health overhaul contained both pros and cons. He said the president made a thoughtful argument for voting for the bill while recognizing its inadequacies.

Though he called Mr. Obama “a very persuasive person,” Lynch was unswayed. He dismissed the notion that a failed health care push would significantly weaken the Democratic president.

“This is the end of year one,” Lynch said. “This will not determine the success or failure of his presidency.”

Lynch said his meeting with the president was similar to his conversation with Vicki Kennedy, the widow of former Sen. Kennedy. She too asked the congressman to overlook the overhaul’s shortcomings. They also discussed possible fixes to the Senate bill through reconciliation, but Lynch believes the Senate parliamentarian’s rulings limit that potential.

“I don’t believe we should be spending a trillion dollars on something that needs to be fixed so drastically,” he said.

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Mary

Of course Ted Kennedy would have voted this bill – reconsider, have courage, and do the right thing!
Jerry Garvey

If Congressman Lynch is receiving calls that are 70% against this bill, his decision is fairly simple. We send these people to Congress to “represent” their constituents. Reform just for the sake of reform is ridiculous. We need to make them fix the real problems! If you have a good bill, you don’t need to make slimy deals.
layne kettner

AMENDMENT 28 my help the citizens
sally

he’s throwing the baby out with the bath water. This isn’t perfect, but it’s a step. Please reconsider.
http://www.21stcenturypolitics.com/ Umesh Patil

He is one of the worst ‘grand standing’ guys there. He must be thinking his voters, Dem Congressional Leadership, President and rest of the country are fools to believe this guy when he says he wants to work down the line to improve it or stop GOP from repealing it whereas he gets the right to disbelieve the guy (President Obama) who has done so much for the Progressive cause so far!

He is traitor to Progressive cause, one of the worst kind of Representatives ever to be there.

He does not have valid reasons to oppose the bill. Unions are on board, they are urging every Dem Rep to support the bill and this guy is having the attitude of ‘holier than thou’.

There are far more committed Progressives in Dem party who despite all of disagreements still backing the bill and here is a upstart guy trying to smart over everyone else. What a moron and how bad that enlightened Boston folks have such lousy representative in House. Rest of the country always look at education Mecca Boston, stepped in legendary History, for a leadership to show the way whereas this guy is rocking the entire boat and having fun of his life in drowning everybody else with him.

Did someone ask him if the bill to fall short of one vote, will he vote or not? That means he is trying to burnish his ‘hallow progressive credentials’ at the cost of others. He wants the free ride, real liar and hypocrite and the one who ‘wants to use his constituents and rest of the country’ for his perceived political benefits.

Once the bill voting is over, Democratic Party & House Leadership need to make the effort to kick this ‘ass hole’ from Dem House Caucus. Let him remain as an Independent for this term and try getting elected as an Independent. Unless Dem party shows this spine, these ‘snakes’ will continue to pull Dems down. At that stage there is no point having majority if there are pimps are like Lynch – selling others for their own political benefits’.
Gail Jones

Please reconsider. No bill is perfect. There are always going to be people who are for and against anything proposed. It would be great to see our representatives vote not based on whether they will get re-elected but vote based on what people want. Most people want healthcare coverage for everyone. Please do the right thing and vote for the bill.
kinday Admassu

Lynch is simply a traitor!No excuse whatsoever for this cheat to vote against this healthcare reform. Did I hear him say that Kennedy won’t vote for this bill? What a shame. The bill is going to pass with or without him and we know what to do with him come election time. This fraud doesn’t care about the poor.
Michael Bastian

Mr. Lynch,
with all due respect, your prospective “No” vote on a historic health care overhaul bill leaves me only to say: Leave before the door hits you in the back in the fall! You are permanently “damaged goods” (politically). You are letting the American people down.
Janice Mendelson

I will send money to ANYONE who is running again’t him when he is up for reelection. PERIOD!!!
Brandy

Rep. Lynch is doing what he is supposed to be doing– listening to his constituents. Are you all lemmings? Is it better to “tow the party line” than to follow your morals and listen the people who elected you in the first place? Should he vote for this bill because it’s better than nothing? It’s the lesser of two evils?

We all want health care reform, but this is health insurance reform. Unfortunately, health insurance reform is better than nothing, but it’s not what we voted for. Yet there is so much more that could be done to “reform” health insurance. The house bill had more backbone.

Good for Rep. Lynch for standing up to the lemmings and shame on all of you. Go do his job if you think you can do it better.

As for making him an Independent? I can’t believe I actually read your comment twice. Shame.

We can’t be sure whether Ted would have voted for this bill or not, but I have a feeling that this wasn’t what he had in mind.

I don’t know if I would vote no, but I’m proud of the congressman for not just falling in line.
Tom

Your Ted Kennedy-like courage to stand up to the President and represent the wishes of the vast majority of your constituants is truly admirable. Don’t compromise your principles and buckle under this unethical attempt by Comgress to circumvent the normal parliamentary procedures…… Tom
http://jackarns@ssctv.net Jack Arns

One of the major problems I’m having here, party affiliation aside, is that I have heard of no clear representation of exactly what this bill will do for any American, young or old, rich or poor, with or without insurance. It is shrouded in a Vail of ambiguity that both parties seem comfortable with. When hospitals charge you $5,000 for a 2-hour visit to an emergency room, and $80,000 for a one-day outpatient procedure, and the insurance company pays for it (and still stay profitable) you just know that this is a self-serving and self-sustaining industry that won’t change and I saw nothing in the current health reform bill that addresses it. If anyone out there, Democrat, Republican, or Independent, really thinks they truly understand what this bill would do for them, you should run for office! Until we lock up both parties in a small non-air conditioned room (like the one in Philadelphia over 200 years ago)and keep them there until they are motivated enough to come up with a reform bill we can all live with, this is the kind of performance that we can continue to expect from our Congress! God help us all!
Carol C. Wall

COngressman Lynch: PLEASE change your mind! The bill will at least give help and hope to the millions of Americans who don’t have health care coverage now. We NEED your vote.
L carls

I can not believe how arrogant and stupid Rep. Lynch is acting. Healthcare reform is an aboulute need and will help thousands here and millions of Americans. PASS IT AND ADD FIXES IF WE MUST! WE WILL RUN REP LYNCH OUT OF OFFICE IF HE VOTES AGAINST US!!! YOU are an embarrassment to MA!
http://yahoo al

he does not get it, he has his health insurance all paid for, but to help the people—OH NO we can’t do that–SHAME ON HIM, AT LEAST THE PEOPLE who do not have insurance will finally get health care—-but he does not not see that–HE MUST BE BLIND!
bev

March 26, 2010

U. S. Representative Stephen Lynch
88 Black Falcon Avenue, Suite 340
Boston, MA 02210

Dear Representative Lynch:

As a nurse and a mother, I find it morally wrong that many thousands of people nationwide die on a daily basis because they have no health care coverage, especially expecting mothers and their fetuses that do not have access to pre natal care.

With that said, Representative Lynch, I was profoundly disappointed with your decision not to vote for the Health Care Reform (Law). I do realize that it was a complicated bill and still is and will remain so until many of the “kinks” are worked out over the next several years. With all its intricacies, I believe President Obama is right that it will be “revenue neutral.” Meanwhile, I see many lives being saved because of it.

I recently read that a study done at Harvard University which indicated that “catastrophic illness is the biggest cause of bankruptcy, representing 62% of all personal bankruptcies. One of the interesting caveats of this study shows that 78% of filers had some form of health insurance, thus bucking the myth that medical bills
only affect the uninsured.”

“Also, rare or serious diseases or injuries can easily result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills; these bills can quickly wipe out savings, home equity bills, retirement accounts and college education funds.” Now that’s what I call “disingenuous! I am happy that you and your family will never have to deal with these kinds of crises.

Unfortunately, this reality can happen to any one of us. I know that you are acutely aware that health care providers/insurance companies are on a mission and have already begun upping premiums at obscene rates? The biggest culprits defrauding the taxpayers are not only the insurance companies, but pharmaceuticals as well.

Currently there are 19 active fraudulent suits (and they are on the rise) taking place under the U.S. False Claims Act. “Ninety five percent of these immoral, unprincipled cheaters are insurance/pharmaceuticals.” Source: (TAF) Taxpayers Against Fraud We, as taxpayers, are being bilked big time. Now that’s “disingenuous,” Representative Lynch!

It’s chillingly clear to me that we can no longer afford to leave the “profit-oriented providers” in charge of our health care system.

We are the only country in the world that does not provide universal health coverage to its citizens; that’s just plain immoral. Do the Republicans care–NO? They are more concerned about big businesses–Wall Street/corporate America and not with Main Street. I also blame the conservative Democrats for their lack of vision; they were simply more concerned about their lucrative, prestigious Congress seats than their moral obligations. Now that’s disingenuous!

When my children were young, my husband became seriously ill and was hospitalized for almost a year. During that time, I had to apply for welfare.
Also, my 90 yr. old mother, living on a fixed income, (on G Street in South Boston just below the hill from you Representative Lynch) had to pay a
small fortune because of the pharmaceutical “donut hole” gap.

In addition, I have a sister with Schizophrenia living in a group home in Boston and a profoundly mentally and physically handicapped step-daughter that needs care around the clock. I only mention this because I credit the Democrats, especially the Kennedy family, for their tireless efforts in securing many sources of health care services for the poor and disenfranchised.

I also believe that the first step to getting health care reform right is to understand that we are not on a “level playing field.” The health care industry will stop at nothing to protect its massive profits.

Last week I watched a segment on PBS interviewing staff and the administrator at McGill hospital in Canada and was impressed with just how well the Canadian Universal Health Care system is working; it’s not perfect, but it is not bad either. You may have to wait a week for an MRI. I had to wait 2 weeks for one right here at Tufts Medical Center! The Republicans and their scare tactics/”death panel” rhetoric would have you believe otherwise.

Furthermore, I find it sadly ironical that some of my friends who hold conservative viewpoints are enjoying a relatively good life in retirement thanks to one of the biggest unions in MA. I don’t begrudge them; they deserve the hard work and dedication pay off of their professions; they are inherently good people, but politically, we just happen to be at opposite ends of the spectrum. What I do take umbrage with is that they seem to perceive many of the unfortunate and the “least among us” as not taking charge of their own lives; this kind of perception is the same as painting a canvas with a very broad brush stroke toward all our members of society. From a personal viewpoint, I find that not only unfair and disingenuous, but more importantly: intolerance should no longer be tolerated!

In closing, Representative Lynch, you may have voted your conscience or you may have coveted your job a little too much for my liking. So when 2010 rolls around, I will have no choice but to vote my conscience. I feel compelled to inform others that you chose not to embrace this much needed and historic Health Care Reform Law. I’ve only just begun! I passionately live by Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s adage—“The pen is mightier than the sword.” And I’ve only just begun!

Sincerely,

Copies to: President Obama, Senator John Kerry, Senator Scott Brown, Representative Patrick Kennedy