Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

My overarching goal with respect to health care is to address the access and affordability of care while implementing long-term solutions which promote fiscal and individual responsibility.

As the cost of health care in America continues to rise, so does the importance of a strong Medicare program. Designed decades ago, Medicare has not kept pace with the tremendous advances in health care. Patients need more choices to find the best treatments and providers for their care.

Adding competition to the program, such as Medicare Part D, has helped hold down escalating costs. I have also worked to ensure the viability of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Last year, I sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee urging it to allocate additional funds for Nebraska, which would have suffered up to a $4 million shortfall without such intervention.

I cosponsored the SCHIP Expansion Act of 2007, which would allocate $5 billion a year and provide a $1.5 billion shortfall fund to sustain SCHIP without creating new taxes, such as an increase of the tax on cigarettes. Such provisions ultimately fail practitioners, consumers, and the children it claims to help.

Providing the very best medical care for our citizens is a responsibility I take seriously and I look forward to continue to work on this important issue.

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