Health Care
Above Congresswoman Granger tours the Fort Worth Veterans Clinic and is looking into some of the state of the art equipment such as this CAT scanner the clinic has.
Health Reform
Having raised my children as a single mother, I know how difficult it can be to afford the health care that your children need. I worked hard for many years to support my elderly mother and my children. In fact, at one point I was working three jobs to support my family. Today my children are grown and have their own young children.
As a mother and grandmother, I understand the importance of knowing that your family has access to affordable and hassle-free health care.
The overwhelming reason our health care system isn’t working is that too many Americans don’t have access to quality care. Today, only those fortunate enough to be able to pay for care out-of-pocket have access to quality, innovative, and life-saving care.
Health care is expensive, and costs keep rising – year after year. Americans spend $2.4 trillion a year on health care. A recent report by the Business Roundtable found that in 2006, Americans spent $1,928 per capita on health care, at least two-and-a-half times more per person than any other advanced country. When faced with a major medical emergency, many American families find themselves unable to pay astronomical medical bills.
More than three out of four Americans questioned in a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey are dissatisfied with the cost of health care in the United States. We must address rising health care costs in any health reform effort undertaken this year.
I support increasing access to affordable health care, and I look forward to working with my colleagues as Congress undertakes health reform this year.
Texas has one of the highest uninsured rates of any state in the country – one out of four Texans is uninsured. Our local emergency rooms are overburdened with uninsured individuals seeking primary care. The solution to lowering the number of uninsured Americans is not a government run “single-payer” or “public health insurance option” that takes away individual choices, doctor control, and threatens the employer-sponsored health insurance market. No one should have to lose his or her current health insurance coverage or change doctors.
We need to find fiscally responsible ways to expand access to affordable health care, and in doing so we need to be sure we are giving individuals and doctors control over making decisions about health care – not the government.