Saying “No” to the Healthcare Takeover

President Obama thinks it is time to act on health care reform, but his methodology is wrong. The President and Congress are failing to listen to the American people on this issue. Health care has long been one of my top priorities in Congress. But I have stated before that health care is not “one-size fits all” and it is wrong to pass an overhaul of our health system by using an arcane budget procedure created to balance the federal budget. We must implement more free market principles into the current system to lower costs and increase accessibility, not give the government more control to create a universal system.

Lowering the cost of health care can be done without intrusive government mandates by curbing lawsuit abuse; providing tax incentives to low-income families to retain or purchase private health insurance; implementing health information technology; and training more medical professionals and encouraging them to practice in underserved areas. I also support finding responsible ways to address the problems caused by pre-existing conditions and to increase the size of the pool of the insured.

Truly, the only way we improve our health care system is by increasing health care transparency and reducing health care costs. If we cannot get costs under control, we cannot ensure access to affordable, quality health care for Kansans. We lower costs through common-sense reforms that eliminate the unnecessary over-spending in our current system, not by growing government.

-Jerry