Issue Position: Healthy Families and Communities

Issue Position

As we all know, healthcare hasn't gotten any cheaper since the government expanded its role in the market, and far too often, we look to the government for solutions to issues in private industry. But, as a limited-government, fiscal conservative, I understand when politics and overly burdensome regulations are removed from industry, the door is opened for REAL competition -- and the free-market is able to deliver a higher-quality product at a lower price for the consumer.

During my time in the South Carolina State House, I've led the fight to bring common-sense solutions to our healthcare system.

FIGHTING FOR FAMILIES IN THE SC LEGISLATURE

I filed legislation to fully repeal needlessly restrictive laws that require any new health care facility to be approved by a state agency before they are built or even expanded. Even if just one new service is set to be offered at a pre-existing facility, the state has to approve it. This setup serves large hospital networks and big insurance companies -- not the people and patients of South Carolina. Medical providers and innovators shouldn't have to navigate a labyrinth of red tape and wait years to see and to treat their patients.

With rising health care costs, young people aren't able to make decisions and pursue their personal and professional dreams with astronomical costs of care and copays. Unleashing the power of the free market by providing transparency in pricing, procedures and medicine will allow young people to make more long-term plans and get the care they need. No more mandates from on high and no more health plans approved only by bureaucrats in Washington who don't know what the people of South Carolina want.

As your Representative in Congress, I will support a FULL repeal of Obamacare and work on legislation that will expand access, drive down prices and improve the quality of healthcare for Americans.

That's because as a state lawmaker, I am inundated with concerns about the skyrocketing costs of health care. And as big government continues to align with big insurance companies, patients suffer. We must allow for more options in the marketplace.

MORE OPTIONS FOR PATIENTS

We can implement fixes to provide patients more options by: lifting the age cap on catastrophic insurance plans, allowing professionals to make use of their training and certifications whether they're doctors, nurse practitioners, physicians' assistants, or pharmacists, and, lastly, implementing better accountability in the pharmaceutical supply chain. For patients, we must expand options and lower costs -- plain and simple.

The federal government expects to spend $6 trillion on national health plans by 2027. Spending on programs like Medicare and Medicaid is expected to outpace the growth of our economy by 2027. This is a problem. Medicaid costs are through the roof -- quadrupling in the last 20 years to almost $400 billion. Payments are on the rise, patients are turned away and yet Medicaid continues to chomp away at our federal budget. The federal government must loosen its grip on our healthcare decisions. Needless taxes and penalties stand in the way of getting South Carolinians the health care and insurance they deserve.

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