Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

The new health care law includes massive tax increases, billions in Medicare cuts and new complex regulations and government bureaucracy. In addition, the law is filled with budgetary gimmicks used to mask its true cost. In fact, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services found that instead of saving money, as it was sold to the public, the law would actually increase national health expenditures by $311 billion in the first ten years. The law would also force 7.4 million seniors out of Medicare Advantage plans and increase health insurance premiums by $2,100 per family.

I believe there is a better way to reduce costs and increase access to health care for all Americans. This includes curbing costly junk lawsuits, encouraging the use of health savings accounts and empowering small business and states to use innovative means to reduce health care costs for you and your family.

That's why as one of my first votes as your Representative, I voted to repeal this onerous law and replace it with common sense health care reforms. The House Committees are working right now, in an open and transparent process, to craft replacement legislation that will include input from the American people and include some universal principles of reform:

* Any health care reform's focus must be lowering health care costs for families.

* No one should be denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions. The Republican plan offered last year also made it illegal for an insurance company to deny coverage on the basis of a pre-existing condition.

* No one wants the health insurance industry to exploit patients - our family members and friends.

* Health care reform should help, not hurt, seniors.

* Everyone should have reasonable access to health care, including students.

* We need to enact real tort reform, as mentioned by President Obama in this year's State of the Union address.

* Any legislation Congress writes must not add to the deficit or hurt job growth.

In addition, I support having a fact-based conversation about how to preserve Medicare for current seniors and for future generations. Without reform, the Medicare Trust Fund will be bankrupt in 2020, according to the Congressional Budget Office. I support reforms that will strengthen Medicare for the future, while ensuring that no one over the age of 55 will be impacted. These reforms will give seniors access to Medicare-approved guaranteed coverage options offered on a regulated exchange, allowing seniors to select a plan that best meets his/her needs, much like the health insurance Members of Congress have.

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