Health
![Health professional examining a young patient. Health professional examining a young patient.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121106212405im_/http://buerkle.house.gov/sites/buerkle.house.gov/files/styles/section_front_boilerplate/public/health.jpg)
Health issues affect us all and determining the best means of addressing them is an important part of my work in Congress.
The United States has enjoyed one of the best health care systems in the world and is the center of health research and innovation. In the last few years, access and affordability have become issues for far too many Americans who seek healthcare. Reform is needed.
The Affordable Care Act is not sensible reform, but an attempt to increase the role of government at the expense of private insurers and healthcare providers. Medicare will face $500 billion in cuts by 2014 if the Affordable Care Act goes into full implementation. I voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and will continue to vote to defund it.
The sense of crisis perpetuated by those who want to see an increase in government involvement in your healthcare decisions does little to serve the interests of the people of the United States. Instead, practical, step-by-step measures can be implemented that reform the system to provide greater access and affordability. An overhaul of healthcare is simply a takeover, not reform in any meaningful sense.
Some elements of the existing health care law are good (such as not denying coverage for pre-existing conditions or allowing greater flexibility to keep children under a plan until they turn 26). However, these are but two sensible proposals within a multi-thousand page bill that has more to do with expanding the bureaucracy than helping citizens.
Real reform should allow the competitive selling of insurance plans across state lines, breaking the government-sanctioned monopoly of carriers in specific regions and states. Sensible Tort Reform can further control costs by allowing for patient’s rights yet eliminating frivolous lawsuits that drive up the cost of healthcare through expensive malpractice fees.
Healthcare reform is a priority for the United States. The Affordable Care Act of 2009 is not true reform. Currently, over 1300 waivers have been granted by the Federal Government to companies, unions, and municipalities that are aligned with the political authors of this act, which is not a fair application of U.S. law. If the Affordable Care Act of 2009 is good law, why should waivers be granted?