Issue Position: Healthcare

Issue Position

Improving Healthcare for Idahoans

I was a dentist in Blackfoot, Idaho, for 22 years, and although I have left the profession, I remain interested and involved in health care issues. I believe there are a number of things Congress could do to make health care more affordable and accessible for all Americans. As a member of the Doctors Caucus, co-chair of the Oral Health Caucus, and a member of the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Subcommittee on Appropriations, I am working to implement improvements to our health care system that would be broadly supported on a bipartisan basis. In addition, as an appropriator, I am working to bring fiscal responsibility back into our health care system, which is enormously expensive not only for patients seeking care but also for taxpayers who pay to keep the system running.

Like many Idahoans, I am deeply concerned about rising health care costs for employers and consumers alike, indeed the cost of health care has skyrocketed over the past decade and continues to rise. Advanced medical technology and therapy, increased use of prescription drugs, inadequate cost containment and out of control liability costs have led to substantial price increases. In addition, escalating jury awards and the high cost of defending against lawsuits, even frivolous ones, have caused medical liability insurance premiums to reach unprecedented levels. Thus, a growing number of physicians can no longer afford or even find liability insurance. America is still blessed with the best health care system in the world, but we must keep working to make it available and truly affordable for everyone.

I voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) during the 111th Congress, legislation that represents the first step to a government takeover of the healthcare system. I am an original cosponsor of legislation to repeal the law. I have supported repeated efforts to repeal the law, and will continue working with my colleagues to repeal it and replace it with real market based reforms that will improve care and bring down cost.

ORAL HEALTH

As a dentist in practice for 22 years in Blackfoot, Idaho, I have seen firsthand both the value of good oral health and the consequences of neglect, especially among children. For people who don't have access to dental care, oral disease is almost 100 percent inevitable -- in fact, it is the most common chronic disease affecting children in the United States. As co-chair of the Congressional Oral Health Caucus, and a member of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education subcommittee on Appropriations, which funds oral health programs, I am in a fortunate position to have the ability to impact the oral health initiatives that deserve to be prioritized.

My priorities include legislation I introduced along with Congressman Mike Ross (AR) to help improve access for people who live in regions where it is hard to find proper dental care. The Breaking Barriers to Oral Health Care Act would provide funding to state and local entities to provide proven oral health care services in a manner that effectively addresses the barriers to dental care facing people within their state or local community. It supports dental health education and assists dental professionals who donate their time to provide free dental care. Information on my bill from last Congress can be found here.

I also have supported increased funding for the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Division of Oral Health, which administers crucial dental programs, and have worked with the CDC to preserve and protect of the Division of Oral Health. I have also supported Title VII General Practice and Pediatric Dental Residencies, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health and SPRANs State Oral Health Programs.

Each of these programs provides critical support for the dental health community and do much to improve access for those that currently lack proper care.

REPEALING OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE LAW

Despite my strong opposition and the Republicans' repeated efforts to defeat President Obama's bill, it narrowly passed the House and the Senate in 2010 and became law.

I strongly oppose the health reform legislation and am supportive of Republican efforts of repeal and defund the law and have been supportive of states such as Idaho to overturn the bill through the legal process. While I accepted the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the individual mandate as a tax, I remain concerned with the precedent the decision sets for the future. It is difficult not to see it as an approval of the significant expansion of the power of the federal government into the everyday lives of citizens.

That said, I believe the best thing Congress can do now is repeal the bill in its entirety and start over by passing smaller bills that enjoy bipartisan support and focus on bringing down costs for American healthcare consumers.

Recognizing that full repeal of this legislation in Congress is an uphill battle, I support several individual reforms that all Americans -- Democrats, Republicans and Independents -- could support that would bring down healthcare costs for taxpayers and consumers and improve access to care. Some of these reforms I support are:

* Medical malpractice reform;
* Make the purchase of health insurance for individuals tax-exempt like it is for employer-sponsored insurance;
* Help association health plans create larger purchasing pools;
* Allow prescription drug re-importation;
* Allow purchase of health insurance across state lines.

These are not new ideas--many of them already have support on both sides of the aisle. I am disappointed that President Obama and Democratic leadership chose to ignore this message when they passed the health care bill. Americans deserve REAL market based reform--not a partisan, gimmicky bill that will cost trillions of dollars and do little to improve care.

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