Health Care Reform: Wrong Focus, Wrong Time

Statement

East Alabamians who watched portions of the recent Health Care Summit at the Blair House in Washington, D.C., probably heard a lot of what's already been said over the past year.

One notable difference in this setting was while the two sides strongly disagreed, both sides were in the same room to talk. Americans need to see more of that from Congress.
According to news reports, however, it looks like the Democratic leadership in both the House and Senate may press forward with their healthcare plan -- despite increasingly strong opposition to the proposal.

That means little may have come from the summit, which is disappointing. Many East Alabamians are concerned about our healthcare system. But with Alabama's unemployment rate at 11%, it's jobs that top the list of concerns.

I recently held a live tele-town hall meeting and according to a survey I held, folks agreed with me two to one.

This week, I gave a short speech on the House floor about jobs, pointing out that President Obama recently said he would focus "like a laser" on jobs.

That's the right thing to do. Which brings up the question: why is Congress and the Democratic leadership still spending so much time working on a comprehensive health care reform bill the American public doesn't seem to want?

In public meeting events across East Alabama these past two months, folks had the chance to talk with me about concerns most important to them.

Job creation is number one. Health care reform is also important, of course, but an overhaul of the entire system is not the correct approach.

Congress should start from scratch, and instead work to find ways to cover the roughly 15% of Americans that have no health coverage. One way is allowing Association Health Plans (AHP). Another way is to let insurance be sold across state lines. In order to help bring down costs, Congress should pass tort reform.

With our nation in the midst of this terrible recession, Congress' focus should be on jobs. Let's pass reforms that have wide support, like eliminating the antitrust exemption for health insurance companies, which I voted for this week. But not a massive government intervention into our healthcare system.

I want to hear from you. As always, contact me on this or any issue at www.house.gov/mike-rogers, friend me at www.facebook.com, follow me on Twitter or watch my latest videos at www.YouTube.com/MikeRogersAL03.

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