Thank you for contacting me to express your thoughts on our nation's healthcare policy. I appreciate hearing from you on this important matter.
Enhancing the quality of current healthcare and making affordable healthcare more accessible is one of the most pressing challenges facing our nation. I believe we must allow people to determine their own healthcare plan independent of their employer or the government. This will encourage an active, competitive marketplace that will in turn increase access and affordability.
This approach will resolve the fundamental flaw of our current system of healthcare - the disconnection that now exists between individuals and the price and quality of care. Today, an individual's capacity to get healthcare coverage is dependent upon a third party payee like an employer or the government. This system has, in many ways, reduced the power of the marketplace and forced Americans to become prisoners to health plans dictated upon them.
Congress needs to initiate policies that will encourage personal choice and increase competition, not enact socialized government medicine or price controls. Also, whatever Congress enacts must not bankrupt our country or cause individuals to lose their current health insurance - both which would happen under the current proposals being discussed.
Rather than supporting President Obama's and the Democrats' approach - a government run health care system - I have cosponsored the H.R. 2520, the Patient's Choice Act, introduced by Congressmen Paul Ryan and Devin Nunes and Senators Tom Coburn and Richard Burr. This legislation transforms health care in America by strengthening the relationship between the patient and the doctor; using choice and competition rather than rationing and restrictions to contain costs; and ensuring universal, affordable health care for all Americans. "The Patients' Choice Act" promotes innovative, State-based solutions, along with fundamental reforms in the tax code, to give every American, regardless of employment status, age, or health condition, the ability and the resources to purchase health insurance. The comprehensive legislation also includes concrete prevention and transparency initiatives, long overdue reforms to Medicare and Medicaid, investments in wellness programs and health IT, and more.
We also must work to expand the availability of Health Savings Accounts. Established by the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, HSA's allow employees and individuals to accumulate tax-free savings for lifetime health care needs. Individuals are able to make pre-tax contributions towards their health plan deductible, with a maximum annual contribution. Rather than forcing people to pay monthly fees whether or not they use any medical services, this system allows you to save up tax-free funds for when the need for care is necessary. Today, over three million Americans are already taking advantage of this system, of which many were previously uninsured.
In addition, we need to address our nation's broken litigation system that has caused a rapid increase in liability insurance for doctors. The threat of frivolous litigation has caused doctors to begin practicing defensive medicine and is now endangering patient access to the best treatments. In 1975, California passed legislation to limit "pain and suffering damages" to $250,000, and today our access to quality health care is among the nation's best. This common sense policy should be applied nationwide and I have introduced such legislation (H.R. 2975) to do this.
As Congress continues to analyze and discuss this issue, I will be sure to follow it closely and seek to ensure a stronger and more accessible healthcare emerges. We must move towards a system that breaks down the stifling and cost raising barriers of a third party payee system.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact me. Having the benefit of your views is important, and I appreciate you sharing them with me.
I remain respectfully,
JOHN CAMPBELL
Member of Congress
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