Rep. Jim Gerlach: Americans want better health care, not bigger government

Americans want better health care, not bigger government

By U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach

This summer's simmering debate over health care reform has revealed that Americans clearly want better care and insurance coverage, not just bigger and more costly government programs.

Many fear the quality of health care will get worse with more government involvement and 54 percent are concerned government will go too far in reforming health care, according to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has also found that the House health care proposal, H.R. 3200, would not provide the fundamental changes needed to control costs and would create another expensive government program at a time when Medicare is already drowning in red ink.

So far, Democrat leaders and other supporters of H.R. 3200 have been unrelenting in their pursuit of giving government a larger role in health care.

The same House leaders who believed the largest spending increase in American history would cure our economy now want to prescribe a huge expansion of government control over health care as a remedy for reducing the number of uninsured in America.

Supporters of H.R. 3200 have tried to convince the public that the only choice we have in this health care debate is accepting a massive, government-controlled program or living with the shortcomings of the status quo.

That's a false choice.

Bipartisan support exists in Congress for true reforms that would allow individuals, not bureaucrats, to select the insurance coverage they want and allow individuals and doctors to determine the right medical treatment.

One option that I have been working on with Wisconsin Democratic Rep. Ron Kind would give the self-employed and small business owners – groups that often struggle to maintain coverage due to rapidly rising premiums – two ways to lower insurance costs.

Employers would receive tax credits of up to $1,800 per year for each employee they cover under the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Act that Congressman Kind and I support. In addition to tax credits, the legislation would allow small businesses to form statewide, and eventually, national pools to use their buying power the same way larger corporations do to get better rates on premiums.

Increasing competition by allowing employers and individuals to purchase health insurance across state boundaries is another step that could improve access and reduce the cost of health insurance.

In Pennsylvania and other states, people have more choices when it comes to insuring their automobiles than they do insuring themselves. That must change. There is little question that true reform must also eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions.

And health insurance has to be more portable than the current system allows.
Health savings accounts and flexible savings accounts would give individuals more control over their health care dollars and ensures a way to pay for coverage even if a person loses or changes jobs.

Republicans in Congress have introduced at least a dozen bills to address health care reform. Most, including the bill I have sponsored along with Rep. Kind, have not even received a hearing. So claims that GOP lawmakers have stoked public opposition to H.R. 3200 for the sake of embarrassing President Obama and killing reform are absolutely inaccurate.

When Congress reconvenes this week, Republicans will be ready to deliver changes to our health care system the American people are demanding without the costly expansion of government into health care that taxpayers simply cannot afford.

U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach is a Republican who represents Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District, which includes parts of Berks, Chester, Lehigh and Montgomery counties.