Replay of the Recovery Act rhetoric two-step, says Congressman Chaka Fattah

Congressman Chaka Fattah (D-PA), a strong advocate for comprehensive healthcare reform, issues the following statement:

"So we're hearing that a bunch of Republican governors and attorneys general are vowing to file suit to block comprehensive healthcare reform as soon as we pass it in the Congress and President Obama signs it into law. These are some of the same Republicans who claimed they were going to refuse money from the Recovery Act – and quietly took the dollars anyway.

"Where were these Republicans when healthcare suits needed to be filed – suits against the insurance companies that have been denying healthcare, cutting off coverage and devising new, monopoly-style tricks to run up costs?

"Instead we're seeing a replay of the Recovery Act rhetoric two-step. It didn't work then and it won't work now. The insurance companies' heyday for unconscionable denials, inflated costs and discriminatory practices is about to end – no thanks to those who have been the enablers of healthcare chaos. The bad old days will dawn as a new day of comprehensive coverage, reduced costs and no denials for pre-existing conditions. We are doing the job that all of America needs to have done."