Issues > Health
Qualified professional medical care providers and patients should be the only ones to set health standards. The federal government should not be in charge of administering, managing, and providing health care. Patient health care is a very personal, private matter and should not be open to government mismanagement, waste and intervention. The federal government should not dictate purchases of any good or service to any of us.
With government run health care we will be at the mercy of another debacle, such as Fannie Mae for Freddy Mac, resulting in failure to provide the services demanded by consumers. Being forced to buy health care is wrong, and in the current law even if you choose not to have health care they will fine you, using the IRS as a fee collector to extract the tax.
To have quality healthcare we need all citizens to be part of the process. Without competition in the market of healthcare, you the citizen will not be allowed to make a choice on your doctor or even your treatment. You should be treated as a person with your own healthcare desires and needs, not as a piece of furniture.
Eating healthy is also the basis for a sound body and mind. In California, Congress has allowed the EPA and the courts to shut off water to portions of the Central Valley where vast fields supplying a significant portion of the food consumed in the United States is grown. If these insane restrictions continue, we are going to be forced to pay more for our food. This creates an undue burden on the American taxpayer and we may have a lower quality of food supply. The very thing you and your family needs to put affordable, healthy food on your family‚ kitchen table is now in jeopardy.
Unlike the statists in Washington, the people understand that our health care is too important to be left to the whims of politicians and bureaucrats.
More Americans are realizing that the current administration’s version of health care means giving the federal government’s corporatist allies even greater power, like rewarding insurance companies with millions of customers who will be forced to buy their product.
Legitimate reform starts with the principles found in two new bills introduced in congress
H.R. 4995, the End the Mandate Act, repeals the recently-passed federal mandate requiring Americans to carry government-approved health insurance.
H.R. 5444, the “Private Option Health Care Act,” which would completely repeal the current health care bill and replace it with real solutions.
H.R. 5444 would:
- Provide all Americans with a tax credit for 100% of health care expenses. The tax credit is fully refundable against both income and payroll taxes;
- Allow individuals to roll over unused amounts in cafeteria plans and Flexible Savings Accounts ;
- Provide a tax credit for premiums for high-deductible insurance policies connected with Health Savings Accounts and allow seniors to use funds in HSAs to pay for medigap policies;
- Repeal the 7.5% threshold for the deduction of medical expenses, thus making all medical expenses tax deductible;
- Guarantee individuals can purchase health insurance across state lines;
- Permit a tax credit for negative outcomes insurance purchased before medical treatment, reducing expensive malpractice suits;
- Reduce barriers to importing FDA-approved prescription drugs.
As your congressional representative, I will make it my job to strengthen our health care system by sponsoring or cosponsoring such bills as H.R. 5444, the Private Option Health Care Act, and H.R. 4995, the End the Mandate Act.
Only working together we can make the difference in determining how we are treated and to protect out choices.
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