Harris Opens Bel Air Office, Decries 'Obamacare'

Hours before the opening of his district office in downtown Bel Air on Friday, Rep. Andy Harris spoke with Patch about his first few weeks in Washington D.C.

Harris, who represents much of Middle River, said he hopes the repeal of the “Obamacare” 1099 provision is just the beginning of the end for the health care bill passed in March 2010. The U.S. Congressman says it hurts the state, despite Gov. Martin O’Malley’s claims it has expanded coverage.

“Many provisions of the Obamacare that people really like are already in Maryland. For instance, you can’t be denied coverage in Maryland for a preexisting condition because we have our own high-risk pool,” Harris told Patch. “We don’t gain anything from Obamacare. In fact, we end up subsidizing other states that don’t have it. … It certainly will expand Medicaid, but Medicaid is a great cost to the state.”

The governor said Harris is partially correct.

“Some of the provisions in federal health care reform are already in place in Maryland—that’s correct,” a spokesman for O’Malley wrote in an e-mail to Patch. “That’s largely because the same drive to expand health care coverage that unfortunately escapes members [of] the Party of Lincoln remain consistent among Democratic leaders, including Governor O’Malley and President [Barack] Obama.”

Harris said health care will be a big target for reduction in the state's 2012 budget.

“I don’t think the governor’s going to be able to balance his budget without cutting into it. He’s already decided, for instance, to cut reimbursements to hospitals for Medicaid,” Harris said. “You can say on the one hand you’re going to cover more people, but on the other hand, if you’re not paying for your hospitals, I’m not sure what the coverage is.”

O'Malley claims that Marylanders will actually save money in the next decade.

"It misses the point to use the cost of reform as a reason not to implement it. In fact, federal health reform with save Maryland taxpayers nearly a billion dollars over the next 10 years," the spokesman wrote.

After eliminating the 1099 provision, Harris said he hopes his colleagues do the same with the individual coverage mandate.

“In [Obama’s campaign] he said he didn’t like the individual mandate,” Harris said. “I believe we’re going to give him an opportunity to take a position on that by deciding to sign a veto.”

Harris said he is still focused on lowering taxes, too.

“When you talk to business owners, they want to make sure that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts stay in place,” he said. “We’ve got to keep them permanent. And then we have to turn our attention to lowering corporate tax as well.”

The republican said he does not feel additional pressure to work across party lines, even though he defeated incumbent democrat Frank Kratovil in the November election.

“To me, the party distinction is not important. It’s, do you stand for returning to constitutional principles for a balanced budget in Washington, reducing taxes, reducing regulatory environment?” he said. “If democrats want to do that, I’m with them 100 percent of the way. I’m not going to look at a party label.”

In addition to his Bel Air office, which is located above  on East Churchville Road, Harris will work out of Kent Island and Salisbury. He said he plans to be in Harford County once a month.

“We’re going to average about a district work week a month,” Harris said. “Our plan for those district work weeks is to on most weeks be throughout the districts, and when we’re up in the northern part of the district, we will include time working out of this office. So at least once a month I should be available to constituents in the office here.”

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