Billings Gazette - Let's lower premiums, preserve rural access

Op-Ed

By Greg Gianforte

Billings Gazette: Greg Gianforte: Let's lower premiums, preserve rural access (04/03/2017)

I'm a problem solver. As an engineer and businessman, I understand that we need to control costs and find solutions that work, rather than rely on short-term fixes to Obamacare's most egregious problems. I also believe that we need to work together to protect the coverage and care that matters most to Montanans.

I know we can do better than the health-care proposal recently considered in the U.S. House of Representatives. That's why I'm fighting for health care reform that actually lowers costs, increases access, and protects the most vulnerable in our society. I'll fight for reforms that reduce premiums for average Montanans and preserve access in rural areas.

We also need commonsense solutions that increase competition and provide Montanans with greater choices. After all, who best understands your families' unique health care needs -- you and your physician, or a career bureaucrat who has never been to Montana?

We need to allow people to buy insurance across state lines to improve options. We need to allow more flexibility in how packages are structured so Montanans have choices that fit their needs. We need to do more than just insurance reform -- we must also deal with underlying health-care costs, like rising prescription drug prices and frivolous lawsuits that drive up costs.

I'll always be on Montanans' side, not Nancy Pelosi's. I stand firmly against my opponent's calls for a complete government takeover of our health-care system that would cost trillions of dollars and put the government fully in control of dictating and rationing Montanans' health care decisions.

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