Whether fighting diabetes or heart disease, developing vaccines, or helping people walk again with robotic limbs, Western Pennsylvania doctors, nurses, and researchers are at the forefront of medical innovation. Their work saves lives, and we can be proud that our region’s universities, hospitals, and laboratories are second to none.

Western Pennsylvanians are blessed with excellent health care institutions, and we should always be looking for ways to continue expanding access to the care they offer. In addition to expanding access to care, there is an equally important imperative of making that access more affordable.

Affordability of products and services is an important measure of a family’s economic well-being. This summer almost 17,000 people responded to the 2014 Official U.S. Government Survey for Pennsylvania’s Twelfth Congressional District, which was conducted to gauge the opinions and concerns of constituents in Western Pennsylvania. The results of the survey echo the reality of what you see in the mailbox with respect to doctors’ bills and insurance statements, as well as what you see at the grocery store and gas pump.

Stagnant wages and rising costs for everything from food to housing to gas are straining family budgets across Western Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, because of President Obama’s health care law many Western Pennsylvanians are also seeing their health care costs increase. Even those with cheaper premiums are facing much higher deductibles and co-pays.

More than six out of ten respondents to the survey told me that their health insurance costs increased and almost six out of ten reported that their deductible or copay increased. It is not surprising therefore that sixty-four percent believe we need a better way on health care reform.

There are several proposals under consideration in Congress to forge a better health care result for Americans. Two in particular that I support are the American Health Care Reform Act and the Empowering Patients First Act.

We need reform that puts the doctor-patient relationship first instead of empowering bureaucrats, increases access to care, and actually reduces costs for individuals and families. Allowing individuals and small businesses to join together to purchase group plans and allowing consumers to purchase health insurance across State lines will expand choice and reduce costs. Reforms like cracking down on waste, fraud, and abuse and ending defensive medicine will also help cut costs. Expanding the availability of health savings accounts will help put patients back in control of their health care decisions.

It is crucially important that any reform proposal cover preexisting conditions. The American Health Care Reform Act ensures this coverage by expanding and reforming State high-risk pools, and funds this new program at $25 billion over ten years. These pools allow individuals with pre-existing conditions to obtain health insurance coverage when doing so would have otherwise been unaffordable.

Allowing families and individuals to deduct health care costs and expand the amount of pre-tax dollars they can deposit into portable health savings accounts is another reform that empowers people to make health care choices. This is a significant difference under the President’s law, you get a tax penalty if you do not buy insurance; under this new proposal, you get a tax break if you buy insurance.

These are commonsense reforms and I will continue to advocate for a better way on health care reform so that all people can get the care they need, at a doctor of their choice, and at a price they can afford.