Cassidy Unveils New Ideas to Make Health Care Affordable Again

Statement

U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), a member of the Senate health and finance committees, released the following statement and white paper containing new ideas to improve the U.S. health care system and lower costs for families and patients:

"Families and patients have seen their health insurance premiums and the cost of care go up year after year. It's unaffordable and unsustainable, and things aren't going to get better until we change our broken system," said Dr. Cassidy. "I'm focused on lowering health care costs, because we have to make health care affordable again. That's what these ideas I'm outlining are intended to do."

"The good news is that it's absolutely possible to fix this mess by ending the rules that rig the system for the companies with all the lawyers and lobbyists, and giving patients the power to choose what is best for them," continued Dr. Cassidy. "That's the good news. The bad news is that the U.S. Senate is split almost evenly, and Washington Democrats refuse to work with us to make things better. We saw Senator Nelson ultimately oppose Collins-Nelson, a bipartisan agreement he helped initiate. We saw Senator Murray ultimately oppose Alexander-Murray, a bipartisan agreement she helped initiate. Why did they do this? Election-year politics, plain and simple."

"But just because the votes in the Senate aren't there right now doesn't mean we should stop coming up with ideas to address the problems in our health care system. I hope the eight pages of ideas I'm publishing today will further our ongoing discussions and debates, and eventually translate into good legislation we can introduce and send to the president's desk," said Dr. Cassidy. "Americans deserve a better health care system and lower health care costs, and I will work with anyone who is willing to help me achieve that goal."

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