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Government intervention in the economy often comes with unintended consequences. In March of 2010, healthcare legislation was signed into law with the promise of containing the spiraling costs of healthcare and increasing access to care. Instead, this legislation created a $2.6 trillion bureaucracy that significantly expands the government’s role in our already broken healthcare system. Rather than finding bipartisan solutions to our nation’s healthcare needs, this overhaul slashed over half a trillion dollars from a Medicare system that is already set to go broke and increases taxes by half a trillion dollars over its first ten years. While it intended to stop the rising healthcare costs, we have already seen insurance premiums increase and burdensome regulations create uncertainty in markets and small business owners.
In the 112th Congress, my colleagues and I are working toward meaningful healthcare reform that will keep costs down and ensure that patients have control of their healthcare. In a bipartisan vote on January 19th, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 2, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, which would repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law last year. The United States Senate has yet to take up this bill. H.R. 4, the Comprehensive 1099 Taxpayer and Repayment of Exchange Subsidy Overpayments Act of 2011, removed some of the new regulations of the healthcare law. It was passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate and signed into Public Law on April 14th.
The healthcare law should be repealed and replaced with true reforms to curb spiraling medical costs, such as allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines to increase competition. This makes it easier for small businesses to pool together and increase their purchasing power for insurance. Additionally, this would provide incentives to ensure healthcare providers, doctors and insurance companies are compensated for the quality, not the volume, of their services.
Quality, affordable healthcare is critical to Americans and to the economy. Addressing the long-term rise in healthcare costs cannot be done by attacking Americans’ Medicare, increasing taxes and placing overbearing regulations on our small business owners and job creators. The way to increase access to quality healthcare can be done in a cost-efficient manner, once we understand the cost structure and incentive system underlying our healthcare system.
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