Brady Tasked with Tackling America’s Health Care Crisis

New Ways & Means Health Subcommittee Chair to Fight for Free Market Solutions

Washington, D.C. - Today, the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee announced that U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas will chair the influential Health Subcommittee for the 113th Congress. Congressman Brady is a senior member of the Ways and Means Committee and recently led the Trade Subcommittee in its successful efforts to open up new countries for sales of American goods and services.

“Health care reform shouldn’t drive up costs, encourage businesses to drop coverage for their workers or interject more government in between you and your doctor. The President’s new heath care law, unfortunately, accomplishes all three,” said Brady. “As we develop an aggressive health care agenda, certainly a priority must be to build support for repealing specific ObamaCare provisions that increase cost and drag down hiring along Main Street. I intend to examine and shine a bright public light on the unprecedented host of new regulations and taxes in 2013 and their impact on patients and local health care providers. It’s important, as well, to look ahead four years in the future to make sure a free market health care system is preserved to compete with the new government-run system.”

Brady anticipates working closely with the Energy & Commerce Committee to unveil legislation permanently repealing Medicare’s Sustainable Growth Rate formula and replacing it with a reliable physician reimbursement formula that rewards quality.  He hopes to push structural reforms this session to preserve Medicare and reduce Medicare fraud.   

“In the House we’ve taken the lead to preserve Medicare with solutions that offer quality and choice to future seniors, and gives us a better bang for our health care dollar. The time to preserve Medicare is now.”

The administrative overhead in health care – estimated to be as high as 25-30% - is unacceptable, says Brady, who supports marshalling the best free market ideas and technology in a national initiative to lower overhead costs to 10% within five years.

“Can you imagine the benefits to America’s health care system if we can significantly shift paperwork costs to patient care and cost savings?” asks Brady.

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