Issue Position: Health Reform

Issue Position

Real reform must include the following if we are to improve our system for all Americans:

1. Price transparency: It's impossible for people to 'shop around' right now for health services, as we do for other necessities like groceries. This needs to change so people can make smart decisions with all the information at their fingertips.

2. End Abusive Law Suits: It's important for people who have serious claims of medical malpractice or error to find justice in the courts, but the trial-lawyer lobby with legislators in their pocket have ensured that the medical system has turned into a virtual lottery. Not only are frivolous lawsuits clogging the courts, but the rising costs for physicians of medical malpractice insurance, coupled with the need to order countless unnecessary tests in the practice of defensive medicine, has been a major contributor to the out-of-control rise in the cost of health care.

3. Encourage real competition in the health insurance market: In health insurance a combination of regulation and local monopoly control has restricted the choices for families, businesses and individuals to purchase health insurance from only a few providers. Increasing national competition is a principal method we can use to drive down the cost of health insurance.

Source