Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

I am committed to finding effective and fiscally responsible solutions to the problems in our health care system. Health care reform legislation must substantially reduce our health care spending while giving consumers access to competitive, affordable, high-quality health care. It is critical that we address the flaws of our current health care system and eliminate the inefficiencies that have lead to wasteful and fraudulent spending. Our current system must become efficient before it can be expanded.

Reforming our health care system is a complex task without a quick and easy solution. It is imperative that we get health care reform right rather than getting it done right away. As Congress discusses health care reform, I will continue to work with local hospitals, health care providers, consumers, and small businesses in Western North Carolina.

2010 Health Care Insurance Reform Bill

While I did not support the health insurance reform bill when it came to the House floor in 2010, I also did not support its total repeal in January 2012 and the political theater that ensued. The repeal simply continued the divisive nature of political discourse and did nothing to address the needs of American families and businesses.

The healthcare legislation that passed last year had serious flaws. However, it included a number of important and necessary provisions which I support. For example, the bill prevents insurance companies from denying individuals coverage because they fell ill or have a pre-existing condition. I also support provisions that allow young adults to remain on their parents' insurance until the age of 26. In addition, the healthcare reform law closes the Medicare prescription drug benefit donut hole so more seniors can afford all their medications. It would be immoral and unproductive to take those rights away from consumers.

Instead of a simple repeal, we must take steps to improve the current healthcare law. In January, I supported two separate efforts to address some of the negative impacts of the bill. Along with more than 250 of my Democratic and Republican colleagues, I cosponsored H.R. 4, the Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act of 2011, which would repeal the onerous 1099 reporting requirements placed on small businesses by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I also voted in favor of H. Res. 9, a bill which directs the appropriate committees to write new healthcare legislation to improve the existing law.

I believe reforming our broken healthcare system is not just a matter of saving our country from financial ruin; it is a moral obligation. Every day, I read letters and hear stories from people across Western North Carolina who are suffering because they cannot afford health insurance. We need to be working together to address the very real healthcare challenges before us by keeping the portions of the law that work, and fixing the portions that do not. I pledge to continue to work with my colleagues to address specific areas within the bill that need improvement.

Medicare

Medicare has proven to be an effective method of improving health care for our senior citizens. We must continue building on its legacy of success to ensure its viability in the coming years.

State Children's Health Insurance Program

We have a moral obligation to help care for the least among us. No family should have to decide whether they can afford to take their sick child to the doctor.

In 1997, Democrats and Republicans came together to provide health care for the most vulnerable people in our nation---our children---by creating the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Since its inception SCHIP has provided the health care needed to grow up healthy and strong for millions of American children whose parents are working, but cannot afford health insurance.

I was proud to vote to expand SCHIP, which will provide health coverage to more than 10 million children across the country and reduce the number of uninsured North Carolina children by 46 percent.

Disease Research

Adequate research is vital to curing and improving treatment for diseases. I have requested and supported funding increases to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for lifesaving disease and disorder research.

Source