Health Security: Access to affordable, quality health care
 "America's health care delivery system, our doctors, health care providers, and medical researchers are second to none. I have promoted, and will continue to promote, policies that reduce health care costs while ensuring patients have access to top quality medical care."
- Charlie Dent
Rising health care costs are dramatically impacting the budgets of families and businesses across the 15th District. Instead of offering reforms that will lower health care costs, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Leader Harry Reid have pushed misguided policies that would result in tax hikes, Medicare cuts, increased government spending, new mandates on cash-strapped states and a dramatic expansion of the federal government's role in health care.
I will fight against health care legislation that puts special interests and sweetheart deals before the needs of the American people and infringes on patients control over their health care decisions. I will fight for policies that provide all Americans with more choices to obtain affordable health insurance, reduce the cost and increase the quality of health care, and promote innovations and wellness initiatives that lead to cures.
Americans should have more options for affordable coverage, not less. Let's give individuals and families the same tax treatment that businesses enjoy when purchasing health insurance, and allow Americans to shop across state lines for the health insurance plan that best meets their needs. The implementation of high risk pools and reinsurance models will ensure that no one is denied access to health insurance because of a pre-existing condition or unable to secure coverage after changing jobs. Small businesses employ more than half of the workforce. We need to make it easier and more affordable for small businesses to offer health care to their employees.
We must address major cost drivers while improving the quality of care. Medical liability reforms that combat the practice of defensive medicine will reduce health care costs, increase patient safety and preserve access to highly-skilled medical professionals. We must tackle waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid that costs the taxpayers as much as $60 billion a year and compromises care. The implementation of Health Information Technology and the advancement of medical innovations will lower costs and improve efficiency.
We know that a handful of controllable or preventable conditions are driving too much of our healthcare spending. That's why sensible incentives for wellness and prevention initiatives must be part of meaningful healthcare reform.
Our country can't afford to get health care reform wrong. The federal government and states are already struggling to keep up with the unsustainable growth of health care spending. Reforms must bend the cost curve and reduce spending, not create an expensive new entitlement program that we don't know how we will afford.
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