Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Johnny Isakson's Position Statement on Health Care

As a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, as well as a former small business owner, I recognize the frustrations many Americans have with the current cost and delivery of health care. I am particularly sensitive to the struggles hard-working Americans face when trying to gain access to adequate and affordable health care.

Health Care Reform

I have always believed in looking for solutions for ways to provide access to affordable health care to individuals who lack access to health insurance through an employer.

However, I voted against the deeply flawed, unpopular health care reform bill known as Obamacare that was passed by the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives and signed by President Obama on March 30, 2010.

The thousands of Georgians I have heard from on this issue are very leery of being pushed into a government-run system that will have to be paid for with higher taxes. I voted against this bill because I could not be a part of driving Americans to a system that will raise taxes, raise premiums, cut benefits for seniors and place a massive unfunded mandates on the states.

Since President Obama's terribly flawed health care law went into effect I have repeatedly called for it to be repealed, reiterating that more than 1,000 waivers have been granted exempting more than 2.5 million individuals from the law's insurance mandates. Many states -- including Georgia -- have sought waivers in advance of the higher premiums, fewer benefits and numerous regulations that will be imposed.

I have co-sponsored several pieces of legislation aimed at repealing provisions of the health care law, and have voted to repeal the health care law altogether. I also joined 35 other Republican senators in signing on to an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court opposing the President's health care law. In addition, Senate Republicans, myself included, have twice submitted an amicus brief in the lower courts in support of the states and private parties that are challenging the health care law in federal court.

On June 28, 2012, the Court upheld the health care law and ruled that the individual mandate could be upheld as a tax. The Court upheld that the portion of the law that expanded the number of people who qualify for Medicaid, but ruled that it is unconstitutional to withhold funding for states that don't comply with the expansion.

I was sorely disappointed that the Court has upheld the individual mandate as a legal tax on the American people. At the same time, I believe that the ruling does not change the fact that there have been enormous problems trying to implement this terribly flawed law and that it should be repealed and replaced with a step-by-step approach that makes health care more accessible, affordable and competitive.

I also believe that the Supreme Court failed to recognized how terribly flawed the law is for millions of Georgians suffering under the law's health insurance premium spikes and intrusive mandates. In light of this, I was disappointed in their ruling on June 24, 2015, in the King v. Burwell lawsuit.

I believe there could be some common ground between Republicans and Democrats on health care in terms of insurance portability and not being rejected for pre-existing conditions or cancelled if you have a disease. However, I firmly believe the best way to reach these goals is through choice and competition in the private sector.

The key to health care reform is stimulating competition in a market-based system that will encourage private health insurers and managed care providers to compete for business and make health insurance more affordable for consumers. Congress should look carefully into proposals that will increase coverage of preventative and wellness care, which will help control the cost of managing chronic diseases and drive down the cost of treating largely preventable conditions.

I co-sponsored a Republican alternative, S.1099, Patients' Choice Act of 2009, which sought to strengthen the relationship between the patient and the doctor by using choice and competition, rather than rationing and restrictions, to contain costs and ensure affordable health care for all Americans.

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