Issue Statements 

Health Care

Health Care

What separates the American health care system from others in the world is the relationship between patients and their doctors. Unlike the government-run health care systems in Canada, Great Britain and other countries, our system allows Americans to make health care decisions without government rationing of care. Any attempt at health care reform must strengthen, not hurt, the relationship between patients and doctors. Patients and their families need to be able to make health care decisions based on consultations with doctors. We do not need Washington bureaucrats deciding what we can and cannot do.

Liberals have put forth a health care plan that will empower Washington bureaucrats to control our health care system. To pay for their plan, liberals are proposing more job-killing tax hikes – up to an additional 5.4 percent – on the engine of economic growth in America: small businesses. This plan will decrease the quality of our health care, cost American jobs and raise our taxes to pay for more Washington spending.

Better ideas for health care reform include full deductibility of medical expenses for all Americans, medical malpractice reform, an increase in Health Savings Account contribution amounts, giving consumers the ability to purchase health insurance across state lines, allowing small businesses to band together to negotiate lower costs for themselves and their employees through Association Health Plans and fixing Medicare reimbursements to raise reimbursement rates for states like Iowa that have high quality care at a low cost. These are real solutions that will protect the relationship between patients and doctors and improve the quality of health care in America without raising taxes.

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