Can Your Family Afford Government Run Health Care? ...Rep John Kline ... and BCS asks, "Can Your Practice Afford it?"

See The Democrats Health Plan Chart (pdf)

Dear Mr. Broadston,

As you know, Congressional leaders have proposed legislation that would overhaul the way we provide and pay for health care in the United States. As your Representative, I want to ensure you and your family have access to the affordable, high quality health care you need - when you need it.

It is clear the way we provide and pay for health care in the United States must be reformed. However, I have grave concerns about the proposal currently under consideration. Some in Congress are rushing a 1,018 page health care reform bill without providing a sufficient opportunity to review the bill - nor a chance for substantive input from members of the Republican minority. I believe this bill represents an unprecedented intrusion of the federal government into Americans' private lives and an unwarranted expansion of the size and scope of the federal government. As you can see on the attached chart, this proposal creates or expands 33 new entitlement programs and adds an additional 53 offices, bureaus, commissions, and programs that dictate what kind of care you can receive, and when and where you can receive it.

In contrast, I support an approach to health care reform that adheres to core principles. Meaningful reform of our health care system should:

• Make quality health care coverage affordable and accessible for every American, regardless of pre-existing health conditions;
• Protect Americans from being forced into a new government-run health plan;
• Enable Americans who like their coverage to keep it;
• Ensure medical decisions are made by patients and their doctors - not government bureaucrats; and
• Improve Americans' lives through effective prevention, wellness, and disease management programs while developing new treatments and cures for life-threatening diseases.

As the Senior Republican on the House Education and Labor Committee, one of the three committees with jurisdiction over the health care legislation, I will keep your views in mind as we assess the consequences of the health care reform legislation on jobs, small businesses, and the quality of health care in America. I am hopeful my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will put policy before partisanship. I will continue to do all I can to deliver the commonsense, bipartisan health care solutions Americans need.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to do so again regarding any issue of importance to you.



Sincerely,

JOHN KLINE
Member of Congress