Walberg Weekly Wrap-Up

Press Release

For years, Americans have looked to Congress for answers about the way health care is delivered in our country. Our current system is fatally flawed, and right now more than 47 million individuals find themselves without coverage and millions more are underinsured.

Two vastly different answers to our current health care crisis have emerged. One side is advocating for a single provider system in which Washington, D.C. bureaucrats would have the ultimate decision-making authority over every American's medical coverage.

Supporters of this government-run health care approach advocate its ability to provide every American with a level of health care coverage, but fail to elaborate on the actual quality of care this approach will provide. Government-run health care programs all over the world are currently failing to meet the needs of those who need coverage.

According to England's Department of Health, nearly 900,000 Britons were waiting for admission to National Health Service hospitals at a given time in 2006. In other European countries with government-based health care, people can wait for weeks, months and even years for important, specialized treatments, such as heart surgery or chemotherapy.

Unlike those who support empowering bureaucrats through a "Hillarycare" approach, I believe in a patient-centered health care system that gives patients direct control over their health care decisions.

This week I introduced the Making Health Care More Affordable Act, a comprehensive bill that ties together six core reforms to make patient-centered health care more affordable and accessible:

1) Provide Health Insurance Tax Credit - If Congress provides a Health Insurance Tax Credit of up to $2,500 for individuals and $6,000 for a family of four, health insurance will become much more affordable and people will be able to take their health insurance with them when they switch jobs.

2) Create Association Health Plans - These plans allow small businesses to band together to increase buying power in the market.

3) Allow individuals the option to purchase health insurance across state lines - This will help create a national market for health insurance by having consumers, not bureaucrats, find the coverage which best suits consumer needs.

4) Build on the success of Health Savings Accounts - H.S.A's allow people to take control of their health care decisions, make health insurance more affordable and increase choice.

5) Stop lawsuit abuse - Frivolous lawsuits are driving up costs of health care, thus limiting the number of physicians pursuing careers in certain specialties and forcing doctors to practice defensive medicine.

6) Encourage Health Information Technology - High-tech efficiencies, such as electronic health records, increase health care productivity, lower costs and reduce the potential for medical errors. In fact, a study by the RAND Corporation revealed that widespread implementation of Health IT could save $162 billion in health care costs and prevent 2.2 million undesired adverse drug reactions.

Unfortunately, many Americans do not have health coverage, and if they do, they often experience lapses in coverage, high costs and bureaucratic red-tape. Individuals and families need to be able to make important health care decisions without being denied by HMOs or the whims of Washington, D.C. bureaucrats.

My legislation will improve the quality of care for all Americans and empower Americans to take control of their own health care. Passing the Making Health Care More Affordable Act will provide necessary reform to our broken health care system and provide needed, high quality health coverage to more Americans.

More information on my bill is available at http://walberg.house.gov/blog/?p=204.