Practical Health Care Reform

Cautiously members of Congress are again quietly talking about passing a health care bill. The House wishes to change the Senate bill and the Senate is considering passing the altered bill by reconciliation which would only require 51 “aye” votes. This would be a gigantic mistake. The country is against both health care proposals and would be incensed if a combined bill was passed using a parliamentary trick.

Congress needs to scrap the House and Senate bills. They are toxic. Congress needs to start over with a bi-partisan bill. There are a number of areas of agreement. There are logical steps that would truly improve health care without a governmental take-over.

1. Tort Reform is essential – real tort reform not token tort reform. A “losers pay” system would greatly reduce frivolous law suits. If doctors didn’t have the threat of these frivolous suits hanging over their heads, they would not order unnecessary tests.
2. No one should be excluded from obtaining health care insurance because of a preexisting condition.
3. Do not gut Medicare as more and more seniors enter the system. The government made a promise. It needs to keep it. However we need to actively seek to cut the fraud in both Medicare and Medicaid. Why aren’t we already doing this?
4. Citizens should be able to purchase insurance across state lines. How can Congress justify regulating health insurance under the commerce clause, if we can not purchase it across state lines? We can buy everything else nationally. We should be able to purchase the health insurance that best suits our needs.
5. We need more doctors. The federal government should offer full scholarships for primary care doctors-to-be if they will work seven years in a free clinic for a set salary.

Most in Congress would agree to these five steps. Congress needs to drop their agendas and enact common sense solutions. Do not complicate the issue. This should not be about gaining power but about doing the right thing for the country.

Signed,
The Electorate