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Health Care Reform
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Patient Choices
America deserves a health care system which ensures that every American receives patient-centered health care services, while preserving the ability of individuals to make their own decisions about their health care, including the doctors they use and the facilities and drugs they have available, and does so at an affordable cost. No American should go without necessary health care services.
The federal government should enact policies, including a refundable tax credit, which ensures all Americans receive the care they need.
The current system takes patients out of the decision-making process and diminishes their incentive to take responsibility for their treatment decisions, wellness and preventive care. It must be reformed. This system punishes individuals who do not receive health care through their employer by requiring them to pay for health care with after-tax dollars. It creates a discriminatory tax advantage for those who receive employer-funded health care by allowing employers to pay for that care with pre-tax dollars. This inequity cannot be allowed to continue.
While employers have an interest in the well being of their employees, the primary responsibility and decision-making authority should rest with patients, in consultation with their families and doctors. Employers should be encouraged to continue helping their employees, but all Americans should be treated equally regardless of whether they get their health care through their employer or not.
Universal coverage, not socialized medicine
To ensure that all Americans have health care, every American should receive a tax credit for their family or individual health insurance. For those Americans who need further assistance, this tax credit should be refundable so they can use it to purchase coverage.
For those who do not choose to take their tax credit and purchase health insurance, their portion of the credit will be used to buy a default health insurance plan for them. This system will empower both patients and doctors while ensuring that all Americans receive adequate health care.
End Third-party control
The current system places too many decisions in the hands of third-party payers, e.g., employers and insurance providers. Similarly, America should not adopt a system of government-run “universal coverage” (socialized medicine) like Canada and Britain, as advocated by many, empowering government and government bureaucrats to make health care decisions, rationing care and under-compensating providers. Every Democrat candidate for President is promoting socialized medicine. Such a system will further damage patient choices, empower bureaucrats and ration care to control costs. We believe that is the exact wrong policy for America. We can do better. And, we must.
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