Issue Position: Health

Issue Position

It is essential that we enact health care reform that increases access to quality and affordable care in a way that does not result in a massive government takeover, harm small businesses, or step on our freedoms. The Patient Protection and Affordable Act - passed in 2010 - was not the right solution, and that is why I voted to repeal the legislation in January 2011.

With health care costs continuing to rise at several times the rate of inflation, we simply must drive down costs. Yet, the bill passed last year would result in higher costs, higher premiums, and higher taxes, all while creating more burdensome regulations for health care providers and small businesses and expanding government. Changes to the Medicaid program will put an additional and untenable burden on states already facing difficult financial challenges. New taxes and regulations will hurt our small businesses, including the medical device industry, a sector of the economy where our region leads the country.

Congress has begun work on a replacement bill which will include insurance reform for wider access to options and choices, medical liability reform, coverage for preexisting conditions and an assurance that coverage can't be dropped when you get sick. I believe that when the American people see this replacement bill, which will be a patient-centered solution, and evaluate it against the government expansion bill, they will choose the replacement legislation.

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