Health Care

Our nation is the home of the world’s premiere medical research and development enterprise and its most advanced medical technology. The Research Triangle is at the forefront of much of this work—to cure cancer, treat chronic diseases, and train world-class health care providers. But our best efforts to prevent disease and improve treatment are not translating into more affordable and accessible health care. Today, tens of millions of Americans go without basic health insurance, and even those who do have insurance face rising costs and cannot be certain that their current coverage will meet their future needs.

Since the uninsured drive up costs for everyone, our country is paying a steep price for our failure to address this crisis—an estimated $100 billion every year. That translates into an average annual surcharge of $1,017 that each insured family is currently paying to subsidize the care of the uninsured. These costs will only increase as the number of uninsured Americans continues to grow. North Carolina fares even worse than the national average, with 17.2 percent of our state’s population going without health insurance.

And costs generated by our large uninsured population are only one example of our unsustainable status quo. We spend nearly 50 percent more per person on health care than any other country, with far worse outcomes than all other developed nations. Inefficiencies in the system will cost us as much as $248 billion in lost productivity this year alone. Costs of employer-sponsored insurance plans are projected to increase by 84 percent in the next seven years, meaning most American households would spend nearly half of their annual income on health insurance. Twenty percent of employers are expected to stop offering health benefits in the next three to five years due to rising costs. And as individuals lose their coverage and are added to strained government programs, spending on Medicare and Medicaid will double over the next decade and our federal government will go broke.

We must change our current course before it worsens for families, businesses, the federal budget, and our national economy. Although taking action will not be easy, we simply cannot afford the cost of inaction. Our challenge is to fix what’s broken without breaking what’s already working well.

Congress is working diligently to complete health care reform legislation, and there is a good deal of debate about how to structure reform. Some want a single payer system, and some believe we should let the marketplace work on its own. I believe stability for American families is essential, and that means coverage that cannot be taken away, costs that will not threaten family finances or put insurance out of reach, and quality care that lets people choose their own doctors. As legislation is developed, I believe it must adhere to the following principles:

Choice

Families and individuals deserve choice. If you like your current plan, you should be able to keep it. If you are not insured or want to change your current plan, you ought to have access to a health care exchange that offers a menu of affordable, quality health care options: either private insurance plans or the fallback of a publicly-administered health insurance plan. A publicly-administered plan will not come between patients and their doctors as many private insurance companies do now by denying coverage, and it will help keep rates low, so fewer have to rely on the fallback option. The American people should have similar choices to what is available for federal employees, including members of Congress.

Accessibility

Americans must have access to portable, secure health care plans and should no longer have to worry about losing coverage for themselves and their families if their employer drops their plan or they lose their job. Insurance companies should no longer be able to deny Americans coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions, age, race, or gender.

Fiscal Responsibility

Any health care reform bill must be fiscally-responsible in both the short and long terms. I am committed to making this bill budget-neutral.

We must pass health care reform that invests in our nation’s future by providing families with high-quality care, giving businesses access to affordable plans for their employees, and reining in government spending. I will read and analyze the bill and propose modifications to the bill carefully, and will continue to participate actively in discussions shaping efforts to reform our broken health care system. I welcome your comments as this process moves forward.

Information on the health insurance reform package can be found here.