Kirk Introduces Centrist Republican Alternative to Pelosi Health Care Bill
IR 30 October 2009 One Comment
[This article was syndicated via RSS from Illinois Review. The views represented do not necessarily represent those of the Chicago Daily Observer.]
Kirk2 from Mark Kirk's congressional office
WASHINGTON - One day after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled the final version of her trillion-dollar government-run health care bill, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Dr. Michael Burgess (R-Texas) today introduced the Medical Rights and Reform Act (H.R. 3970), a centrist Republican alternative to lower health care costs and expand insurance coverage without raising taxes, cutting Medicare or compromising the doctor-patient relationship.
"Over the last 10 months, five dozen patient, doctor and hospital groups joined with centrist Republicans to craft reforms that would lower costs, expand coverage, protect Medicare, reject tax increases and defend our doctor-patient relationship," said Kirk who co-chairs the centrist Republican Tuesday Group.
"It is the duty of minority members of Congress to propose better reforms before criticizing the 1,990-page Pelosi bill," Kirk said.
"Based on our findings, I am proud to introduce a centrist Republican alternative bill that will lower costs and expand coverage without a government takeover."
According to staff estimates, the Medical Rights and Reform Act will reduce federal spending by $355 billion and is the lowest-cost major health care reform bill introduced this Congress.
The legislation is based on four key pillars:
1. The Medical Rights Act: the bill protects medical rights by preventing the government from interfering with the decisions that you and your doctor made.
2. Eliminating waste, fraud and abuse: the bill strengthens Medicare's enrollment process for providers, expands standards of participation and reduces erroneous payments to save billions in improper fraudulent payments.
3. Reducing Expensive Defensive Medicine: the bill includes robust lawsuit reform and rapid deployment of fully-electronic medical records to cut the need for duplicate tests and procedures. Lawsuit reforms under this Act would save $54 billion alone.
4. Lowering Insurance Costs: the bill grants the right of Americans to buy coverage from other states if they find a plan that is less expensive or more flexible for themselves or their small business. Interstate pools of insurance broaden and share risk. The bill also allows individuals to receive the same tax break employers receive when buying their own health insurance. This is the major spending item of the bill, (costing $33 billion) along with state innovation programs to cover pre-existing conditions and increased coverage for dependent children (costing $15 billion). These items are more than offset by CBO-scored lawsuit reform savings and appropriations staff estimated savings of canceling unobligated balances of non-infrastructure items in the Stimulus. These reforms yield a net savings in the legislation of $355 billion, dramatically reducing federal borrowing.
"We need to lower health care costs without creating unsustainable debts, without raising taxes and without a government takeover of our medical rights," Congressman Kirk said.
"This centrist alternative will protect every American's relationship with their doctor, the integrity of the medical profession and the right of Americans to choose the care they deem appropriate without federal delay or restriction."
A section-by-section summary of the Medical Rights and Reform Act - including cost estimates - appears below.
A copy of H.R. 3970 as introduced is available upon request.
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