David Thomas: “the gentleman said that this is the same bill. I know he does not want to revisit the passage of the Norwood amendment.…”

“the gentleman said that this is the same bill. I know he does not want to revisit the passage of the Norwood amendment. It passed. And what is not in the bill now with the Norwood amendment is what is in this underlying bill. I invite Members to turn to page 121 where it says on line 15, ``no preemption of State law.'' And then down on line 4 it says, ``no right of action for recovery, indemnity or contribution by issuers against treating health care professionals and treating hospitals.'' They gave it on line 14, and took it away on line 34. Thank goodness that is no longer in the bill. Let us visit the tax portion. What the Congressional Budget Office said was that if this became law, their bill, the one we changed, it would increase premiums 5 percent. It does not sound like a lot, but guess what employers do? They will then, because their health costs are higher in terms of the insurance, lower the wages. The Congressional Budget Office says they do. You have to make up that because there is lower revenue. The Congressional Budget Office says that your legislation reduces income and the HI payroll tax, that is the Medicare Trust Fund, by $13 billion over 10 years. That is true; but remember, he proudly said, there was a tax increase in here. The tax increase that is in here increases the general fund because it is revenue.”