Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

One of the most hotly debated topics in this year's presidential and congressional campaigns will almost certainly be health care. The Democrats have made it clear that this is one of their priority issues.

As a candidate for re-election, I welcome the opportunity to discuss this important issue, because it is one of vital importance to the people of my district and to millions of Americans in all areas of the country. It is one of those issues that has no easy solutions and requires constant evaluation and looking for innovative ways to meet the challenges of providing increased access to health care while also slowing down rising costs.

First, here are some facts on which all sides of the debate can agree.

* The U.S. spends more on health care, both as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP) and on a per-capita basis, than any other nation in the world. Current estimates put U.S. health care spending at approximately 15% of GDP, the world's highest.

* Nearly 85 percent of Americans have some form of health insurance from private employers, individual policies or the government.

* U.S. government programs currently account for 45 percent of all health care expenditures.

* Americans without health insurance coverage total about 16% of the population, or 47 million people.

* Health insurance costs are rising faster than wages or inflation.

The basic philosophical differences between the Democratic and Republican approaches to health care concern who should pay and what kind of care should be provided.

Based on the proposals of the Hilary Clinton commission during President Bill Clinton's administration and on more recent proposals from the Democratic presidential candidates, it is clear that the Democrats favor a single-payer system, with the payer being the federal government.

My view--and that of most of my Republican colleagues--is that we should keep what is good with our current system and work to find ways to improve what is not working well.

I think if you ask Americans who have insurance if they are fairly happy with the health care they receive, most will say they are. The major problem in our system is that too many do not have insurance or access to quality care (although virtually all Americans have access to emergency care).

As my voting record will indicate, I have supported many proposals to increase access to health care, including the creation of health savings accounts and encouraging small businesses to offer health insurance coverage to more employees. I also supported the Medicare prescription drug plan that has been a tremendous benefit to millions of senior citizens. And to help keep costs down, I have supported reforming our civil tort laws to cap non-medical damages to ensure that settlements are more reasonable.

As the health care debate continues, I will continue to look for ways to increase health care access for all Americans without turning our health care system over to the federal government, which, in the long run would very likely lead to rationing health care to all Americans.

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