Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

The cost of health care is spiraling out of control and families across New Jersey are struggling to find affordable care and make ends meet. We need real reform that makes health care less expensive and easier to obtain. What Democrats in Washington gave us instead is a $2.5 trillion dollar government takeover of health care that will make our current problems even worse.

The Democrat health care bill raises taxes on families and businesses, increases health care premiums, slashes Medicare, kills jobs, and puts government bureaucrats in charge of your health care decisions.

The Democrat plan raises taxes by more than half a trillion dollars. It taxes you if you have insurance. It taxes you if you don't have insurance. And it taxes small business owners, who are going to be forced to cut jobs because of the burdens imposed by this bill. Job-killing tax increases on businesses and families are the last thing we need in the middle of a recession.

The Democrat bill slashes Medicare by half a trillion dollars to pay for its government expansion of health care, which means that New Jersey's senior citizens will see their care, services, and benefits cut in the coming months and years. The Democrat plan will also wreck New Jersey's finances because it forces Trenton to dramatically increase the amount of money it spends on Medicaid; one Democrat governor called this the "mother of unfunded mandates."

And the Democrat bill gives so much power to the Federal Government that we're going to have to hire more than 16,000 new IRS agents just to enforce the provisions in this 2,700-page bill.

At a time of record debt and deficits, the last thing we can afford is a $2.5 trillion dollar government takeover of health care that will increase costs, give more power to politicians in Washington, and drive our country and State deeper into debt.

The Agosta Plan

We need real health care reform that reduces the high cost of care for New Jersey's families while maintaining the best things about our system and keeping the government out of your health care decisions.

Here are some of the real health care reforms that I support:

Ending Junk Lawsuits On Doctors And Hospitals. These lawsuits drive up health care costs, force doctors to run expensive tests to protect themselves, and put doctors out of business.

Letting Insurance Companies Compete For Your Business. Letting insurance companies compete for your business across state lines would reduce premiums and bring more accountability into the market.

Equalizing Health Care Taxes. Right now, big corporations get a tax break for giving their employees health care while small business owners and those who buy their own health care don't. We need to end this unfair practice.

Promoting Wellness And Prevention Programs. These efforts have been shown to reduce health care costs and to improve the health of Americans.

These are just some of the ways we can make our health care system better and more affordable without bankrupting the country or giving more power to the government. And these are the kinds of reforms I'll fight for as your Congressman.

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