Health Care Reform

I have grave concerns with the health care reform proposals currently being considered in Congress.  Proponents of a public option suggest that the United States government should provide health care to all her citizens.  While a noble goal, this coverage would not be free and we, as a nation, would have to pay for this massive expansion of the federal government.  I simply do not believe the American people desire or deserve what government run health care would result in – higher taxes and larger deficits.

After 6 weeks of drafting a bill behind closed doors without input from the public, the Senate majority has produced a bill that raises taxes, drastically cuts Medicare, and increases the cost of premiums to create a new government program.  Led by Majority Leader Reid, the Senate unveiled its 2,074 page health care bill on November 18 that undoubtedly falls heavily on the liberal side of reform.  The CBO estimates the cost of the bill to be $849 billion over ten years.

To pay for this massive expansion of government control, the bill includes over $493 billion in new tax increases, and another $464 billion in Medicare cuts – thereby placing the burden of reform squarely on the shoulders of small businesses and the elderly.  While Americans will be hit immediately with new taxes and government mandates, the actual services and coverage promised has once again been pushed back and will not be implemented until 2014 – a clear attempt to disguise the true cost of reform.  Even the authors of the legislation estimate that some 20.4 million people will lose insurance while we wait for reforms to be implemented.  Additionally, the bill imposes $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government approved health plans and charges an individual penalty of $750 per uninsured individual – a form of double taxation.  I do not believe this idea of reform is what the American people had in mind to improve access and create affordable, quality health care.
 
Read the Senate’s 2,074 page health care bill here.

On November 7, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed through the House’s $1.2 trillion health care plan by a 220 to 215 vote.  The 1,990-page bill is a destructive piece of legislation on every level - for our health care system, for our country's fiscal condition, and ultimately for American freedom and prosperity.  The House bill contains the same worrisome components that the Senate legislation, and imposes over $572 billion in new taxes, with the burden mostly falling on small businesses that serve as the backbone of our economy.  

Read the House’s 1,990 page health care bill here.

Read a summary of the House-passed Health care bill here.

While we need to enact reforms to our health-care system that will reduce costs and improve access, our nation cannot withstand the deep deficits this colossal health care entitlement program would create. Instead, we need a system that restores the patients and doctors as the center of every health care decision rather than the government and insurance companies.
 
There are steps that can be taken to reform our current health care system that would build on the strengths of our present system without adding further government bureaucracy and taxes.  By making insurance portable, expanding health savings accounts, reducing frivolous lawsuits that provide only marginal assistance to injured patients and drive up our health care costs, emphasizing preventive care, reducing administrative costs and making insurance more affordable to small business and individuals, we can efficiently decrease the costs that currently burden Americans while expanding coverage; thus, improving quality and making health care more affordable. 

By allowing the government to have a heavy hand in how we manage our health care, we are asking for a decrease in flexibility and options for both patients and doctors.  As Congress works to improve our current health care system, it is important to remember that there is a difference between government-run health care coverage and actual access to medical care.

I believe Congress should instead consider the following proposals and reforms:

• Association Health Plans – Helping small businesses find affordable health insurance options for their employees.

• Create state-based health insurance exchanges, similar to AHPs for individuals, through which private plans offer coverage meeting certain benefit and other standards.

• Tax credits or reforms – Providing tax equity so that people who buy their own insurance receive the same tax benefits as those who get insurance through their employers.

• Expand access and eligibility for medical savings accounts, which would allow individuals to purchase high deductible coverage and self insure for costs below the threshold.

• Allow individuals and families purchasing high-deductible health plans that are less than the value of the tax credit to deposit the excess amount into a medical savings account.