Healthcare Reforms and Cost

 

May 1, 2017 Dear Mr. Austin, Thank you for reaching out to me with your thoughts on healthcare reforms and insurance costs. I’ve long been advocating for reforms to the healthcare system and I appreciate the opportunity to share my efforts to reduce your healthcare costs and improve medical care delivery. As you know, Americans across the country have seen their healthcare premiums, taxes and medical fees skyrocket. That includes costly deductibles andinsurance “coverage” that doesn’t meet a patient’s medical needs. Plans are now focused on meeting insurance mandates, driving up the price of every insurance plan. Both insurance coverage and medical care is now far more expensive than need be. The bottom line is this: the laws need to be fixed because the system is completely unsustainable. Insurance rates keep climbing and now medical care is even further out of reach for the middle class. We can do better. But make no mistake, the American healthcare system was broken and expensive before the Affordable Care Act was ever signed into law. That’s why our new healthcare framework must put Americans back in charge of their health care under a system that delivers affordable care when needed, by a doctor of your choosing, at a price you can afford. No one will be left out and no one will be forced to have an expensive plan that doesn’t meet their needs.  I am confident we can fix the broken system and open up access to affordable coverage and not force a one-size-fits-all expensive plan designed from Washington mandates. Instead, we’ll promote quality measures, stop the Washington dictates and eliminate the $600 to $800 billion wasted annually that makes healthcare more expensive, but leaves patients no better off.   Thank you for sharing your ideas, thoughts and concerns. Based on feedback from constituents like you, and from healthcare professionals from across Southwestern Pennsylvania, I wrote on opinion piece recently published in the Washington Examiner titled “A Better Model for Healthcare in America” that you can read by clicking here.  It is an honor to represent you and all of Pennsylvania's Eighteenth Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. To stay in touch with what I’m working on and get the latest updates from Washington and around Southwestern Pennsylvania, you can follow me on Twitter @RepTimMurphy. You can also find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RepTimMurphy or follow me on Medium at www.medium.com/@Tim.Murphy. I also encourage you to sign up for my weekly E-newsletter by visiting www.murphy.house.gov. Thank you for contacting me and I look forward to hearing from you again soon.  Sincerely, Tim Murphy Member of Congress