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Statement of Congressman David Dreier on H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act

It is truly unfortunate that the healthcare debate has come to be cast as a fight between those who favor and those who oppose reform. There is not a single Member of this House who does not support the idea of improving the accessibility and the quality of healthcare in America. We all want to expand access to coverage for the individuals, working families, seniors and veterans who are worried about their healthcare.

I am a strong proponent of reforming our healthcare system in a way that enhances the affordability and availability of quality healthcare options, without limiting patient choice. There are a number of steps we can take to reduce costs for working families without rationing care or raising taxes. Lowering costs is central to expanding coverage, because affordability enhances accessibility.

For example, we must implement medical malpractice reform and redirect resources from trial lawyers to patients. My state of California has been a leader in medical liability reform. We have realized substantial savings, simply by limiting exorbitant trial lawyers’ fees, as well as speculative, non-economic damages.

Without limiting economic damages, medical expenses or punitive damages, the state of California has been able to save consumers tens of billions of dollars. The limit on trial lawyers’ fees alone has saved nearly $200 million over seven years. As a result, we have some of the lowest medical malpractice rates in the country. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office determined that nationwide implementation of reforms similar to California’s would result in savings of up to $54 billion over ten years.

This isn’t just about companies’ bottom lines or state budgets, these cost savings have a real impact on working families, especially during these difficult economic times. As I said at the outset, affordability and accessibility go hand in hand. One independent study showed that partially reversing the reforms that California has implemented would raise healthcare costs for families of four by over $1,000 a year. That is a tremendous burden that families cannot bear. And it underscores the reality that excessive costs are the biggest impediment to access to healthcare.

Furthermore, medical liability reform has proven to not only reduce costs, but to increase quality as well. States with lower medical malpractice premiums tend to have more doctors per capita, including surgeons and specialists. For example, Texas implemented reform six years ago, and subsequently saw an increase in doctors of nearly 18%. 24 counties that previously had no ER doctors now have emergency services.

We must also address the challenge of overlapping government programs. The cost of providing services for those who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid is nearly $250 billion every year. And yet, there is no comprehensive effort to coordinate these programs to ensure that overlap does not result in wasteful spending. As Governor Schwarzenegger proposed, states could be given the authority and flexibility to coordinate these programs, as well as the opportunity to share in the cost savings.

We also need to empower small businesses to provide more affordable healthcare options.

They should have the ability to band together, to achieve the economies of scale that large corporations and labor unions have. Small businesses and individuals should also be able to purchase insurance across state lines. And we can provide tax incentives to make coverage more accessible. Finally, we must eliminate the rampant waste, fraud and abuse that are dramatically and needlessly driving up costs.

Each of these proposals would significantly reduce costs for individuals and families without diminishing the quality of care. In fact, they would enhance the quality of healthcare in this country. Greater competition and greater accountability in the healthcare industry would provide Americans with more choices – and better choices.

Some have made the very dubious claim that expanding options for consumers would somehow diminish the quality of our healthcare. They have said that reforms, such as giving small businesses and individuals the flexibility to purchase insurance across state lines, would spark a race to the bottom.

But increasing competition and accountability would have precisely the opposite effect. When patients have more choices and more flexibility, the result will be higher-quality care. And by addressing the root issue of affordability, we can effectively expand access for all, including those with pre-existing conditions.

The common-sense reform measures we are proposing would accomplish this without raising taxes or diminishing coverage for a single American. And we would expand access while allowing those who are happy with their current coverage to keep it. Perhaps most important of all, these straight-forward yet significant reforms would keep patients and doctors at the center of healthcare decisions – without the interference of government bureaucrats.

This is a positive, workable, effective reform proposal, and it is the reform agenda that Republicans are pursuing.

If we’d had a collaborative, bipartisan process from the beginning, I believe this is the kind of reform proposal that could have gained widespread support from both parties here in Congress. Certainly these are solutions that are widely supported by the American people.

So it is extremely unfortunate that the Democratic Majority has chosen to put forward a divisive, unworkable, enormously expensive proposal that will improve neither accessibility nor the quality of healthcare. In fact, I believe this legislation would accomplish precisely the opposite of its stated goals. A dramatic expansion of the government role in our healthcare system is an utterly nonsensical way to try to enhance efficiency, cut costs or improve quality. Furthermore, government bureaucrats are the last people that Americans want to have making their healthcare decisions for them.

Our national unemployment rate sailed past 10% last month, as we just found out on Friday, while California’s is at 12.2%.

As our economy continues to struggle on its road to recovery, now is the worst possible time to impose significant new taxes on the American people. And with the announcement of the Democratic Majority’s $1.4 trillion deficit, we simply cannot afford to enact more than a trillion dollars in new government spending – an estimated figure that would be sure to balloon if implemented.

The Democratic Majority’s so-called reform bill is a fiscal disaster that will make our healthcare system – already in need of reform – substantially more inefficient, wasteful and costly, and make quality care even less accessible. Today’s vote is not a vote to reject or support healthcare reform. Today’s vote is about the path we will choose as a nation to pursue better and more affordable healthcare.

Republicans have put forth solutions that will cut costs while improving care, and we can achieve this without raising taxes or further crippling our nation with even more debt.

The Democrats have put forth a proposal that would take us in precisely the opposite direction – higher costs, lower-quality care, new taxes and a bigger deficit. I urge my colleagues to support real reform.

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