http://www.freedomworks.org/content/patient-option-act-replace-obamacare-patient-centered-care?social=facebook_share
It’s clear that the public supports repealing ObamaCare, but here at FreedomWorks, we believe that it needs to repealed and replaced.
Representative Paul Broun, M.D. (R-GA) has introduced an exciting new ObamaCare “repeal and replace” bill called the Patient OPTION (Offering Patients True Individualized Options) Act (H.R. 4224).
A majority of Americans favor repealing ObamaCare and three-quarters of Americans believe that the individual mandate at the heart of the law is unconstitutional.
Enter Dr. Broun. Section 1 of his bold, principled plan repeals ObamaCare in its entirety. That alone would make it worth supporting, but he goes much farther. Inspired by the vision of a truly patient-centered system, his bill addresses the spiraling cost of health care and lack of consumer control in a number of commonsense ways. The bill:
✔ Makes all health care expenditures, including health insurance, fully tax deductible.
✔ Expands and strengthens patient-friendly Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
✔ Allows consumers to purchase health insurance across state lines.
✔ Allows small businesses to band together to obtain lower health insurance rates through Association Health Plans (AHPs).
✔ Converts Medicare from an old-fashioned “socialized medicine” system into a simple, modern, high-quality “premium support” system.
✔ Permits individuals opt out of Medicare if they wish.
✔ Reforms the EMTALA mandate burden on overcrowded hospital emergency rooms.
✔ Creates tax incentives for physicians who provide free care to patients in need.
This legislation offers a potent remedy for what ails American health care.
Problem: Today’s discriminatory tax code is the number-one culprit behind fast-rising health care costs and the problem of 47 million uninsured. Solution: Tax fairness. H.R. 4224 would make health care more affordable and accessible for millions of Americans.
Problem: Today health insurance is too costly and not portable from job to job. Solution: Competition and choice. H.R. 4224 would force insurance companies to compete across state lines, empower consumers with expanded HSAs, and give taxpayers more choice through 100% tax deductibility.
Problem: Today’s Medicare is a top-down bureaucratic system troubled by fraud, waste, and out-of-control costs. It’s also increasingly hard for patients to find doctors who will see Medicare patients. These problems are due to the program’s monopoly structure. Seniors simply aren’t the “customers” and don’t control the dollars. Solution: H.R. 4224 would put seniors in charge of their health care, instead of bureaucrats
More than a year ago, FreedomWorks began working with Members of Congress to advance a repeal-and-replace “grand strategy,” which starts from certain basic principles:
Basic Principles of a Patient-Centered System
1. Every intelligent, adult human being has a right to make his or her own health care choices.
2. Patients are customers and have a right to shop around and take their business elsewhere.
3. Health care professionals have a right to be paid for their services, at market rates.
4. Doctors and patients should have the right to freely enter into contracts with each other.
5. People should bear the consequences of their own free choices.
6. People should be free to opt out of public insurance programs.
7. In a free society, the moral way to help those who are less fortunate is through voluntary charity, not mandates and regulations.
To make these principles a reality, we have been urging Congress to pursue six key strategies …
Six Key Strategies
1. Focus on reducing costs and expanding freedom, not on expanding coverage.
2. Make federal health care programs voluntary.
3. Defend true insurance and expand the individual market.
4. Reduce reliance on third-party payment.
5. Stay on offense.
… and these specific reforms:
A Concise Agenda for Replacing ObamaCare
1. Make participation in tax-subsidized health coverage more voluntary and portable.
2. Ensure full funding for state high-risk pools and reinsurance programs.
3. Lower prices through greater transparency and competition.
4. Increase consumer choice in federal health programs.
5. End Medicare price controls and prevent rationing.
6. Give individuals greater control and security through strengthened HSAs.
7. Encourage states to lower costs and increase competition.
We’re delighted to find that, with only a few minor exceptions, Congressman Broun’s Patient OPTION Act strongly embodies all of our recommended “patient-centered” principles and reforms.
In announcing the bill, Dr. Broun said:
The OPTION Act is what true patient-centered health care reform looks like. It’s clear, it’s concise… what you see is what you get. It completely removes government from the patient-doctor relationship, and it is the only health care bill that allows the patient to be in complete control of their coverage.
Matt Kibbe, president and CEO of FreedomWorks, added:
Congressman Broun has authored a bold, timely, and principled plan that offers exactly what a majority of Americans want: patient-centered reforms, in place of the Democrats’ unconstitutional government takeover. FreedomWorks is excited to support this legislation because it is based on the tea party principles of individual liberty and constitutionally limited government. We’ll be mobilizing our 1.5 million grassroots members to help pass the OPTION Act.”
Let’s make this the last year of ObamaCare—and the first year of affordable, patient-centered health care.
TAKE ACTION: Tell your Congressmen to cosponsor the Patient OPTION Act.
