Health Care Reform

See also:

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Cancer Awareness and Prevention

COPD Caucus

Medicare Part D

Prostate Cancer

Pulmonary Rehab

Action On Health Care

Related News Releases

         **Click here to download

a copy of the Reid health care bill**

Providing effective and affordable health care is one of the greatest challenges facing the health profession, insurers, and local, state, and federal governments.  I have heard similar concerns from numerous Idahoans and understand the burden that high insurance and medical costs place on working families, and especially on seniors with fixed incomes.  Our nation’s families should not be forced to forfeit vital necessities in order to afford adequate health care. 

Congress continues to review various health care proposals that will shape the health care industry in the future.  The goal of these proposals, and the focus of this debate, is to increase affordability and choice, address barriers to accessing insurance, and to stem or even reduce the growing number of uninsured persons.  Congress must work to improve not only the access of health care, but also the quality of health care.

In order to address these issues, some lawmakers have advocated the creation of a single-payer health care system run by the federal government which would be mandatory for all Americans.  I am opposed to such a system as it would certainly lower the quality of care that Americans enjoy.  In Canada’s single-payer system, for example, patients must wait for months in order to receive certain types of surgery.  In addition, such a system would be extremely costly, burdening American taxpayers and the economy with large costs and inevitable, significant tax increases.  Without the beneficial effects of competition among insurers, or cost-cutting measures developed by the private sector, a government health care monopoly would likely lead to higher prices.  The archaic, confusing and inaccurate formulas and policies used by Medicare to determine physician and hospital reimbursement levels serve as an example of the ramifications of adopting a universal, government-run health care system.      

   

 To preserve and strengthen the U.S. health care system, we must promote fiscally responsible policies that offer private market choices and access to care for all Americans.  As health care costs continue to rise, we must bend the growth curve of spending by looking for savings within the system.  Most importantly, we must protect the rights of Americans to keep their own doctor, their existing coverage and the right to make their own health care decisions. A one-size-fits-all government approach to health care would not only eliminate these freedoms, but also result in decreased quality of care, choice and access. 

Instead of giving the government more power over health care, individual patients must be given more control, choice, and information to make their health care decisions.  When individual patients have these choices, they will reward innovative insurers and providers who reduce costs and improve quality.  Providing quality health care for all citizens must remain a priority for this Congress.  Please know that I will continue to work with my Senate colleagues to improve our system of health care. 

Listed below are several health care reform options under consideration; the links are provided for research and resource convenience only and their presence here should not be construed as my support or opposition to any of the measures below.

• Text of the Senate bill introduced by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) on November 18, 2009.  Click here to download a copy of the bill; please note the bill is over 2,000 pages long.
• Read the CBO Report on the Reid bill.  Click here to download a copy of the report, which runs 36 pages.
• Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus introduced a conceptual proposal that was debated in the Senate Finance Committee in September 2009.  Click here to download a copy of the proposal; click here to read updated Joint Committee on Taxation revenue estimates of the proposal.
• President Obama's Joint Address To Congress on health care reform, September 9, 2009.  Click here to link to transcript of speech; click here to more details from the Administration regarding the Obama plan.
• H.R. 3200 (PDF file, 1,017 pages, 1.75 MB)
• S. 391, Healthy Americans Act (PDF file, 168 pages, 43 KB)
• Senate HELP Committee legislative summary

Back to Health Care Main Page