The Lake Orion Review ran a letter last week ffrom a resident who heard me speak on health care. Calling himself a fiscal conservative, he disagreed with me and lamented what he viewed as my partisan approach.
I too am a fiscal conservative and also find the partisanship of Washington DC frustrating and unproductive.
Any fiscal conservative would be appalled at the massive deficit spending and huge tax increases needed to fund the Democrat leadership’s proposal for health care ‘reform? that really is not reform at all but a shift to federal government control.
Government-run health care is not the answer. Huge tax increases to fund government-run health care will cripple our economy even more.
Partisanship is the reason no viable plan to halt escalating health care costs is on the horizon. Democrat leaders have chosen a partisan approach even though they cannot agree among themselves on the best way to rein in health care costs.
In reality, there are not enough Republican votes to stop Democrat initiatives no matter how much it hurts seniors, the future of our children, or the health care coverage of working Americans.
Health care reform remains in limbo because some Democrats recognize how damaging their leaders? proposals are, and millions of Americans believe health care costs should be controlled but don’t believe a government-run system is the answer.
The American people have put the brakes on new taxes and a government-run health plan which would force 100 million Americans off their current coverage.
There are better ways to reform health care. That is why I recently combined both Democrat and Republican ideas into a single bill to address goals the President outlined in his September speech to the joint session of Congress.
The letter writer’s statement is true that skyrocketing health costs is a central reason for reform, but assuming the free enterprise system caused that is not factual.
In fact, costs have been driven up by government controls and a lack of competition. For example: we can buy dental, vision, homeowners and automobile insurance across state lines, but it is against the law to buy health care insurance across state lines. When you take competition out of the equation, you set the stage for escalating costs.
Our health care payment system today flows between health care providers and insurance companies with the government setting most of the rules. Having consumers (patients), on the outside looking in with little or no input is a key reason costs are skyrocketing.
America has one of the best health care systems in the world. Our survival rate for diseases like cancer is the best in the world. We are leaders in medical technology and research.
We don’t need a new health care system; we need a new strategy to lower costs and expand access to affordable insurance .
We won’t achieve that without change, and that is why I have made some very specific proposals in my legislation, including both Republican and Democrat ideas that would:
‘Prevent denial of health insurance coverage due to pre-existing conditions;
‘Stop insurance companies from cancelling health care coverage when a patient becomes sick (aka ‘rescission?);
‘Expand federal support for state high-risk pools that accept all patients, making it possible for more low-income families to get affordable health care coverage;
‘Create plans to help small businesses afford health care coverage for their employees and their families;
‘Allow families to purchase insurance across state lines;
‘Enact comprehensive medical liability reform to protect patients and keep down the cost of providing health care;
‘Expand and improve Health Savings Accounts to put patients and doctors in charge of health care decisions;
‘Allow employers to offer discounts for healthy behavior through wellness and prevention programs to encourage smoking cessation, better diets, and more exercise;
‘Strengthen penalties for Medicare and Medicaid fraud to protect the health care coverage of America’s elderly, infirm and low-income citizens;
‘Expand funding for federal anti-fraud monitoring; and,
‘Establish ‘transparency portals? in states to provide families more information about health plans and providers to improve competition and keep costs down.
Yes, I believe we need to scrap plans to shift control of America’s health decisions to the federal government. Instead, we need a truly bipartisan plan focused on making health care affordable and accessible to all Americans while protecting the relationship between patients and their doctors and keeping government’s nose out from under the health care tent.
Rogers represents Michigan’s 8th Congressional District, which includes, Lake Orion.