America is facing a crisis in healthcare. While advances in technology have brought us treatments undreamed of by our grandparents, the cost of providing care has increased significantly. Low income families find it hard to afford health insurance. People with preexisting conditions often can’t get insurance at all, and even people with insurance can be financially ruined by catastrophic medical events. That’s not acceptable, and reform is desperately needed. But we should not reform the system by simply putting the government in charge.

Medicare is, according to its Trustees, just eight years away from insolvency. We should not replicate that model for the entire American healthcare system. We must preserve the doctor-patient relationship and not insert a bureaucrat between them. Intelligent competition, innovation, and smart regulation hold the power to solve the problems that face our healthcare system.

Because I recognize that no party has a monopoly on good ideas, I have partnered with Small Business Committee Chairwoman Nydia Velazquez to introduce H.R. 859, the Small Business CHOICE Act of 2009.
 
• This important piece of legislation allows small businesses to obtain coverage at negotiated bulk rates through purchasing pools.
• The bill would help small businesses offer health insurance through a refundable tax credit of 65 percent, and minimizes risks for insurance companies by letting small firms pool their employees with those of other businesses in voluntary health cooperatives.
• This would allow entrepreneurs to negotiate better rates for coverage for their employees and themselves.
• Self-employed individuals would save $5,000 per year on health coverage costs. Other small firms would save more than 34 percent. The result would be fewer uninsured Americans and a more competitive business sector.

I am also a cosponsor of H.R. 3400, the Empowering Patients First Act, introduced by Rep. Tom Price, M.D. This bill would:

• Make the purchase of health care financially feasible for all – by extending the income tax deduction (above the line) on health care premiums to those who purchase coverage in the non-group/individual market.
• Shining sunlight on health plans – by establishing health plan and provider portals in each state, and these portals act to supply greater information, rather than acting as a purchasing mechanism.
• Rein-in out of control costs – by reforming the medical liability system.
• And not add to the deficit – by decreasing defensive medicine, finding savings from health care efficiencies (reduce DSH payments), ferreting out waste, fraud, and abuse, plus an annual one-percent decrease in non-defense spending.


Memo on Healthcare from Rep. Pitts to Constituents (11/9/09)
Why I Voted Against Speaker Pelosi’s Healthcare Bill (11/09)
Rep. Pitts on Passage of Pelosi Healthcare Reform (11/07/09)
Bipartisan Amendments Passed in Committee Removed from Pelosi Health Bill (11/03/09)
16th District Residents May Lose Their Current Coverage Under Pelosi Health Bill (11/03/09)
Healthcare Reform and Seniors (10/30)
Healthcare Reform and Small Businesses (10/23)
Congress Paves the Way for Future Budget Stalemates (10/16)
Pennsylvania Republican Delegation Letter to Gov. Rendell (10/15/09)
Bipartisan Pro-Life Letter Regarding Healthcare Reform Legislation (9/28/09) (List of Signatures)
Setting the Record Straight on Healthcare (9/1109)
Sensible Proposals to Improve Healthcare (8/14/09)
Another Government Takeover (7/24/09)
Healthcare Reform Must be Patient Centered (5/8/09)
Rep. Pitts Joins Rep. Velazquez in Reintroducing Small Business Healthcare Legislation (2/4/09)


 

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