Opinion: Why 10 Dems Opposed Repealing the Health Reform They Voted Against

Of the 39 Democrats who voted against health care reform in 2010, just 13 were still in Congress this year when the vote to repeal that same law came up on Wednesday.

But of those 13, only three joined 242 Republicans voting to jettison the legislation. The other 10 voted against overturning the very same bill that they voted against passing in March.

Why the change of heart?

Here, as a reader service, are excerpts from statements each of the 10 made explaining their vote:

Jason Altmire, D-Pa.: "I voted against the 2010 health care reform bill because I believe it is a flawed, partisan proposal that will, on the whole, do more harm than good. ... With the law now enacted and beginning to be phased in, I continue to support efforts to prevent the implementation of its most onerous provisions, including the individual mandate and the requirement that small businesses issue 1099 tax forms to their vendors. ... However, I will not waste the time and resources of the American taxpayers by engaging in a purely partisan exercise that has no chance of becoming law."

John Barrow, D-Ga.: "We need to keep the parts that prohibit folks from getting denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions, and extend health coverage to kids just out of college. ... There are a lot of good things in the bill," he said Saturday at a meeting with constituents. "I don't believe in voting against the parts that are good. ... We need to amend it, not end it."

Ben Chandler, D-Ky.: "I voted against the health care reform legislation last year and want to repeal many parts of this new law, especially burdens on our struggling small businesses and the cuts to Medicare and health services for our seniors and our working families. But as I have said repeatedly over the past few months, I will not vote to repeal parts of the law that protect Central Kentuckians by preventing insurance companies from dropping people if they get sick, ending lifetime caps on coverage and eliminating pre-existing condition exclusions."

Tim Holden, D-Pa.: "This is nothing more than political posturing or political theater. This is a waste of time."

Larry Kissell, D-N.C.: "This law is not perfect. ... I voted against the health care bill last year due to my concerns of cuts to Medicare. ... It is my job to make sure that those concerns, as well as other concerns, including the unfair 1099 tax filing requirements on small businesses, are addressed. Everyone agrees that we cannot return to the same broken system. We need to get this settled and return our focus to creating jobs and bolstering our economy."

Dan Lipinski, D-Ill.: "Hopefully the Republicans will be willing to work on making revisions to the law. I'm afraid they may decide to spend the next two years running against the law rather than trying to do anything to fix it."

Stephen Lynch, D-Mass.: "Congressman Lynch still believes in true health care reform. While the recently passed health care law has numerous flaws and fails to reduce health care costs, he believes that we should spend our energies trying to fix those flaws."

Jim Mattheson, D-Utah: "I mean, if you're voting to repeal, you're willing to get rid of provisions that I think everybody likes. And the obvious example is, do you really want to vote to tell people -- and we all know someone with a pre-existing condition -- do you want to vote to go back to the days when insurance companies could deny you coverage just because you had that pre-existing condition? I'm going to tell you, most everyone I talked to in Utah didn't like that. ... There are a lot of steps we can take to make the system better, and that's a debate worth having."

Collin Peterson, D-Minn.: "Mr. Peterson will vote to repeal parts of the bill but not all of it because he views that as a political vote."

Heath Shuler, D-N.C.: "The health care legislation that passed last year had serious flaws, and we should be working to solve those problems. ... Today's attempt to fully repeal that law continues to fail the American people. We need to be working together to address the very real health care challenges before us by keeping the portions of the law that work and fixing the portions that don't."