January 14, 2005

Health Care: It’s All Who You Trust

By Congressman Joe Pitts

Choosing a doctor is all about who you can trust.  From physicals to treatment for serious diseases, you need to be able to trust the person providing you and your family with medical care.  As a policy maker, I often ask the same question when determining which policies to support.  This is especially true when it comes to health care. 

On the one hand, there are those who trust the government.  They believe that families are not capable of making their own decisions so their solution is a complete federal invasion of our health care system.  Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy expressed the point of view best recently when he told reporters in Washington that Medicare should be expanded over the next ten years “to cover every citizen.”  “Medicare for All,” he called it and would be paid for with a blend of payroll taxes and funds pulled from other lines in the budget.

Senator Kennedy and his allies plan to entrust your health care to the model developed in Canada and Europe .  Proponents of this model say that health care is free for Canadian citizens.  The result could be disastrous.  Political satirist and author P.J. O’Rourke once said, “If you think health care is expensive now, just wait until it is free.”  Canadian citizens pay a great deal in taxes – nearly 20 percent of their income just to pay for the nation’s health care system.

The cost would be astronomical if measured in terms of people who could not see a physician, be admitted to a hospital, or get a prescription without waiting for the government to say okay.  In her book, Sally Pipes, President of Pacific Research Institute, recounts the story of 58-year-old Canadian Don Cerniz.  Once Mr. Cerniz noticed blood in his urine it took three weeks for him to get a test.  It took another month to get an MRI.  Six months after that, his cancer treatment finally began.

Research conducted by the Vancouver, British Columbia-based Fraser Institute shows that in Canada the typical patient waits on average 12.6 weeks for an MRI.  The same patient waits 18 weeks for treatment to begin once receiving referral from a general practitioner. 

Government-mandated health care leads not to better medical treatment, but worse.

On the other hand, there are those who believe government’s role is not to takeover health care, but to offer helpful tools for families.  Workers and their families would be far better off – and pay much less – if given more options to choose the plans that reflect their own needs.  Government cannot and will never be able to offer that the way the private sector can.

That’s why I have supported and will continue to support a number of initiatives to expand the options available to all Americans.

Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) were included as part of the Medicare Reform bill.  They are like health care 401k’s, in that they allow workers to set aside money tax-free to cover health expenses with insurance companies picking up the bill for catastrophic costs.  Employers and family members can also pay into the accounts which accrue interest tax-free.  The law limits eligibility for these accounts to those with high deductible private health plans.  But HSAs are already allowing workers and small business owners here in Pennsylvania to save costs and build savings.  They should be expanded to allow everyone access to them.

This was the first step in changing how we approach health care – moving decisions from insurance companies and government back to families. 

This year, I have co-sponsored a bill that would allow people to deduct health care costs from their federal income taxes.  The Health Care Freedom of Choice Act would provide immediate help for employees of small businesses, who are half as likely to have health insurance as employees of large companies.  It would directly benefit nearly 35 million seniors.  Ninety percent of seniors spend their own after-tax money to buy supplemental private insurance and medical care in addition to Medicare and Medicaid.

Most importantly, this simple change in the tax code will dramatically increase health care competition, costs and quality.  Consumers once locked into a certain plan, would have a tool they could use to shop around.  Employees could actually decline their employer-sponsored coverage, purchase a plan that’s better for their families and deduct the costs from their taxes.  What plan would you choose if the money you pay for it could be deducted from your taxes? 

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated the cost at $870 million a year. To the federal government that’s very little.

America should take the lead on health care solutions, not follow the failed strategies of Canada and Europe that have lead to unsustainable federal budgets and rationed care.  Freedom for families is the answer.  And I will support policies that advance it.  The Health Care Freedom of Choice Act, coupled with HSAs, will move health decisions from the corporate boardroom to the family room. 

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