Republican talking points that need to be countered

Dear Mr. Smith,

Thank you for contacting me to express your views on proposals to overhaul our nation's health care system. Ensuring all Americans have access to high-quality, affordable health care is one of my top legislative priorities, and an issue upon which I have taken an active leadership role in Congress.

Health care is intensely personal, and touches every American. Health care is not about bureaucratic "systems" and "payment flows" and complicated regulations in government jargon. Health care is about people. Quality health care is the foundation for our children to grow and prosper, just as it is the basis for seniors to enjoy comfortable retirements.

While the United States maintains the finest health care system in the world, skyrocketing costs threaten the existing system and our ability to care for low-income and underserved populations. Health care spending is nearly one-fifth of the federal budget and growing at an unsustainable rate, and our employer-based health insurance system continues to burden small businesses and inhibit their ability to grow and create jobs. The situation is indeed dire, and we must uncover and implement ways to reverse these worrisome trends.

As you may know, Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) introduced the largest health care overhaul in a generation, H.R. 3200. Unfortunately, this $1,100,000,000,000 ($1.1 trillion) bill threatens to raise health care costs, reduce choice, and let government bureaucrats interfere with the patient-doctor relationship. It would create a government-run "public plan" that would force 114 million Americans out of the private health coverage they currently have and assess penalty taxes on families and small businesses struggling to make ends meet.

The bill is currently advancing through committee consideration in the House of Representatives, and was recently reviewed and debated in the Ways & Means Committee. As a Member of this committee, I offered amendments during debate on the bill to ensure that any Americans who like the health care coverage they have can keep it and to protect small businesses from an onerous new health care penalty tax if it would cause them to cut jobs or wages. Unfortunately, both amendments were defeated.

I remain committed to protecting and strengthening your health care - protecting you from increased health care costs, losing the health plans you currently have, and letting the government interfere in your medical decisions; and strengthening health care by ensuring that better quality, more affordable care is available for all Americans. Congress needs to work together to transform our health care system in a way that helps Americans lead longer, healthier lives without diminishing the health care that we already have. We cannot accept a solution that could bankrupt this country while neglecting the unique health needs of individuals, families, and seniors.

I will continue to fight against a government-run public plan that could force millions of Americans to lose their health coverage, and instead advance common-sense solutions to transform health care in a way that ensures the American people, their freedoms, and their health come before costly, bureaucratic proposals. I urge you to visit my health care reform website at http://reichert.house.gov/healthcare to see videos and news links of the debate on this bill, learn more about my efforts to transform our health care system, weigh in on polls, and share your personal health care stories in a constituent forum. Again, thank you for taking the time to get in touch with me. I value your interest and input, and hope to hear from you in the future about this or any other issue of importance to you.