Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

There is not a day that goes by that a Nevada family is not affected by the rising cost of healthcare. Whether it is rising insurance premiums, or an unexpected illness, access to and the cost of healthcare is out of control. For too many Americans, our hospitals emergency rooms have become primary providers. Surely, there is a better way. We should take care of our sick and elderly, but the question is how?

What is certain is that Obamacare is not the way. As Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney suggests, Obama would have done well to check with him before leaping into the unknown. Romney has said there are parts of the Massachusetts Plan he would change in hindsight, but what he would not change is his ability to implement Healtcare reform at the state level. Different states will place different priorities on what is needed. In Massachusetts the cost has been high: it is already over 50% of the initial estimate, with estimates it will go higher. But that was their choice. Nevadans will feel differently than Massachusetts residents. It is their right--as it is for the other states--to make that decision.

If a state makes the decision to provide healthcare, I believe that the following options should be considered:

- A program that gives individuals the right to choose the appropriate level of coverage and share in its costs.
- All policies must be Guarantee Issue, which eliminates the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage to people based on Pre-Existing Conditions.
- The ability to allow dependents to be covered by theirs' parents policies.

Outside of trying to get more Americans insured, government must attack the other side of the equation: costs. There is no reason why a blood test should cost $150 at the hospital and $45 at a clinic--both within a block of the patient.

Associated Healthcare Plans:

In addition to empowering our local officials, small business associations should be allowed to bond together across state lines. Unions, for example, already have the ability to do so, enabling them to negotiate for lower group insurance rates. Organizations such as the US Chamber of Commerce and National Restaurant Association have both been large proponents of Associated Healthcare Plans. Americans of all ages need to know they can receive the best care possible from the best healthcare system in the world, at a price that they can afford.

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