I am a passionate advocate for patient-centered health care. Doctors and their patients, not the federal government, should be making health care decisions. We all want every American to have access to affordable care; however, there are stark contrasts in how Democrats and Republicans believe we get there.
I support real solutions to rising health care costs:
Nationwide Shopping for Insurance
- Allowing insurance companies to operate under interstate commerce laws will lead to more competition, better prices and offerings.
Equal Tax Treatment
- Businesses and the self-employed receive a tax deduction for insurance premiums. Let’s extend that to individuals, giving an incentive instead of a deterrent for buying health care.
Encourage State High-risk Pools
- Preexisting conditions can make insurance for many people unaffordable or simply unavailable. High risk pools were functioning well in many states before ObamaCare–providing affordable coverage to those with preexisting conditions without raising premiums for everyone else. States should be permitted to create these pools again.
Medical-Malpractice (TORT) Reform
- Defensive medicine costs more than $100 billion a year.
- Texas and New York show us the path forward here. Following passage of TORT reform in Texas, malpractice insurance rates have fallen more than 60 percent. Meanwhile, malpractice premiums in New York have increased by 60 percent. The result? Around 2,000 physicians have moved their practices from New York to Texas due to lower rates.
Association Health Plans
- Allow small businesses to pool employees for coverage.
These policies, centered around what’s best for patients, are what will truly transform our health care system. Obamacare’s government-centric path, leading to exploding premiums and deductibles while placing a huge financial burden on the entire nation, must be stopped. I will continue to work towards the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, and to replace it with solutions that will tackle health care costs and improve access.
