Texas Rep. Michael Burgess Calls Health Reforms a "$2 Trillion Mistake"

The vote in the House of Representatives today to repeal President Obama's health care reforms is necessary, Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), because the reforms were "designed to fail."

The Republican-led House is expected to pass the repeal today, but the bill will almost certainly die in the Senate, where Democrats still hold the majority.

Nevertheless, Burgess said on "Washington Unplugged" today that the Democrats' "$2 trillion mistake" must be repealed in order to truly save the health care system.

The "one big problem" with the reform package, Burgess told CBS News Senior White House Correspondent Bill Plante, is the requirement for all Americans to acquire health insurance, which goes into effect in 2014.

"An individual mandate to purchase insurance... has no place in a free society, and all we've done is given insurance companies reason to not to try improve their product," he said. "They don't even have to be competitive on their pricing because after all, at the end of the day, you have to buy it."

Burgess pointed out that premiums rose last fall in spite of the reform package's passage. The congressman said the rate hikes could be the result of either "simply greedy insurance companies" or "prudent" companies raising rates to pay for new costs. "To tell you the truth, we don't [know] because the Democrats never called a hearing on this issue last fall when all of this was occurring," he said.

Burgess stressed the need for the repeal to happen rapidly because the Obama administration is on track to implement the new health care plan "at freight train speed."

As for "replacing" the reforms, Burgess said the top priority for Congress should be fixing the formula by which physicians are reimbursed in Medicare. Under the current system, Congress must repeatedly vote to block cuts to doctors' reimbursement rates.

"We are driving our best doctors out of the Medicare system," said Burgess, himself a physician.

Watch Plante's full interview with Burgess in the video above.