Americans should have access to quality, affordable health care that meets their individual needs. I support efforts to:

• allow across state line health insurance purchases,
• portability of insurance from job to job and in between
• cracking down on predatory lawsuits that raise the cost of medicine
• private sector solutions to drive down the health care costs, and to
• reduce waste, fraud and abuse in providing health care service.

These efforts are consistent with what the American people have asked us to deliver - health care reform which reduces rising costs and protects, not erodes, doctor-patient relationships, and reforms that incentivize, not penalize through taxes, fees, and hyper regulation, small business employers.

I opposed President Obama’s health care bill, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that was passed on a partisan vote with the rationale that we would have to pass it to find out what was in it.  Now that the bill is law, the American people are finding out that what’s in it is completely contrary to what they were promised by proponents of ObamaCare.

ObamaCare strips the American people of decision-making authority that should be exclusively theirs and puts it in the hands of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats.  It raises health care costs while increasing health care spending.  It jeopardizes the future of Medicare and Medicaid adopting unsustainable cuts and raises taxes on small businesses and American manufacturers.   Because the Affordable Care Act does not achieve those goals and takes us in the wrong direction for reform, I voted against the bill and remain committed to seeing its repeal and eventual replacement with policies that allow Americans to choose quality healthcare plans that are portable between jobs and states and best meet their needs