Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Prior to being elected to serve the people of Pennsylvania's Fifth Congressional District in Congress, I served my neighbors and community for 28 years in a non-profit healthcare setting. During those decades I shaped my career by four tenets: Public policy changes to healthcare must reduce cost; improve the quality of care; increase access to care; and strengthen the doctor-patient relationship.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, fails to pass any of these tests. I was certainly pleased with parts of the law, such as guaranteed insurance coverage for those with pre-existing medical conditions. However, it is estimated the law will drive costs of insurance coverage up as much as $2,100 per year for a family. There is a long list of things that will need to be addressed, including doctors that refuse Medicare because of reimbursement cuts; increased premiums for seniors and cuts to Medicare Advantage; new employer taxes and requirements; and a hefty fine for individuals who do not purchase insurance. Our rural Hospitals will face serious challenges. Because of the law, it is estimated that Pennsylvania will have a 25% increase in Medicaid enrollment. This will cost the Commonwealth about $3.2 billion. In a cash strapped state, this means drastic cuts to other programs in order to meet these mandates or more tax increases. All of these weaknesses must be addressed by repealing this flawed attempt at healthcare reform and replacing it with legislation that actually reduces costs, increases access, preserves quality and honors patient choice.

Source