Healthcare
Health issues affect us all and determining the best means of addressing them is an important part of my work in Congress.
As a direct result of a market driven economic engine and resulting innovation, the United States has the world’s best health care system. Innovation has resulted in life-saving medications, procedures and treatments that attract patients and doctors world-wide. However, health care still remains unaffordable for some citizens and financing mechanisms have become less efficient, due to government intervention, reduced consumer choice and lack of competition.
Health care reform must include four important aspects. First, we must make sure all Americans can have access to coverage by making the purchase of health care financially feasible, ensure coverage for pre-existing conditions and protect employer-sponsored insurance.
Second, we must ensure coverage is truly owned by the patient and not by a Washington bureaucrat. Our health care system must provide greater choice and portability to patients while also giving employers more flexibility in choosing the benefits they offer. Allowing small businesses to pool together to buy insurance and allowing individuals to purchase insurance across state lines will empower consumers and improve patient-centered care.
Third, we must improve the health care delivery system. Physicians know how to provide the best care for their patients. Reforms must establish doctor-led quality measures and ensure patients receive the highest quality of care. We must encourage healthier lifestyles by offering wellness and prevention incentives to both employees and employers.
Lastly, we must rein in out-of-control health care costs by enacting meaningful medical malpractice reform. Decreasing defensive medicine, making our health care system more efficient, and getting rid of waste, fraud and abuse should remain priorities.
For my work in reforming America’s health care system, I received the Champion of Healthcare Innovation Award from the Healthcare Leadership Council.
Legislative Action:
Co-sponsored H.R. 2, the Repealing the Job Killing Health Care Law Act.
- The health care law enacted last Congress expands the government control over health care and unreasonably restricts free market mechanisms. The bill will cost over $2 trillion and still leave millions of Americans uninsured. To pay for this massive amount of new spending, the law cut over $500 billion from the Medicare program, which will impact current Medicare beneficiaries’ ability to receive the services they need. Additionally, the bill increases taxes by over $500 billion, which will affect Americans at all income levels and lead to increased costs for Americans that have private insurance. H.R. 2 fully repeals all provisions of the current health care law.
Sponsored H.R. 2206, the Auto Enroll Repeal Act.
- This bill would repeal the auto-enrollment provision, as adopted by the new health care law, that requires new employees of certain employers to be automatically enrolled in the employer’s health benefits plan. Should this provision not be repealed, in 2014, employees would be automatically enrolled into their employer’s plan then taken out in a relatively short amount of time, increasing costs and administrative burdens for every employee and employer. Overall, these regulations would cause the erosion of employer-sponsored insurance plans, pushing more employees into government exchanges and increasing health care costs to taxpayers.
Co-sponsored H.R. 371, the Health Care Choice Act.
- This bill would allow Americans to buy insurance policies across state lines. It would allow insurance companies to compete for your business, offering plans with the benefits you want at a price you can afford.
Co-sponsored H.R. 452, the Medical Decisions Accountability Act.
- This bill would eliminate the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) that was created in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
- The creation of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) is a flawed mandate in the current health care law that must be repealed. This board’s sole purpose is to control Medicare costs – giving this board the authority to approve and deny funding for care to current Medicare beneficiaries. The IPAB does not have a mandate to improve patient care, but simply to meet a budget.
- The IPAB lacks full Congressional Oversight leaving medical decisions to unelected bureaucrats instead of in the hands of seniors and their doctors.
Co-sponsored H.R. 436, the Defend Medical Innovation Act.
- This legislation would immediately repeal the job-killing $20 billion medical device tax included in the recently-passed Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The medical technology industry is an American success story, responsible for life-saving technologies and thousands of jobs in the New England area. Once it takes effect, this tax will harm job growth, slow innovation and raise costs. The right thing to do is stop this tax now, before its negative impact takes hold.
Co-sponsored H.R. 5, the HEALTH Act.
- This bill includes meaningful medical liability reforms to lower the cost of health care while strengthening the doctor-patient relationship. This bill will make medical malpractice insurance affordable again, encourage health care practitioners to maintain their practices, reduce health care costs for patients, and save billions of dollars a year in federal taxpayer dollars by reducing the need for ‘defensive medicine.’ It is an effective way to stop wasteful spending within our health care system, while ensuring better outcomes for patients.