Health

Throughout the debate on how to reform our nation’s health care system, the American people made it clear that they did not want the tentacles of the federal government reaching into their lives and controlling their personal health care decisions. I couldn’t agree more, yet that is exactly what will happen under the new health care law, the Affordable Care Act.  Federal bureaucrats will be making your health care choices for you and the Internal Revenue Service will be enforcing them. 

The Affordable Care Act, with its thousands of new regulations, countless new government bureaucracies, and $1 trillion price tag, is unworkable and unaffordable for the American people.   On January 19, 2011, I joined my colleagues in the House of Representatives in passing H.R. 2, the Repealing the Jobs-Killing Health Care Law Act.  This bill would repeal the Affordable Care Act in its entirety.  As Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, I am continuing to work to repeal the most onerous provisions of the Affordable Care Act and replace them with smarter, more effective and less costly health care reforms. 

During the debate over the Affordable Care Act, I offered the only alternative analyzed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which provides Congress with official cost estimates of proposed legislation that would actually lower premiums for all Americans.  My proposal, the Common Sense Healthcare Reform and Affordability Act, would lower premiums for families by $1,000 to as much as $3,200 annually, and it contains other vital reforms such as: ensuring coverage for people with pre-existing conditions; protecting against insurers revoking policies; allowing children up to age 26 to remain on their parents’ insurance; and implementing much needed tort reform that will curb the practice of defensive medicine that drives up costs.  Importantly, it would do all this without raising taxes, without forcing people to carry government-approved health insurance they don’t want or need, and without adding one penny to the national debt.

It is possible to reform our health care system in a way that ensures better access to care, increases patient choice and control, and does not add to our deficits and debt.  As Chairman of the committee on Ways and Means Committee, I am continuing to develop solutions that will improve health care for all Americans at a cost we can afford.