Below is a letter received from U. S. Representative Aaron Shock of the 18th District of Illinois in response to the results of the health care survey published on this web site last week and sent to both Rep. Shock and Senator Dick Durbin.  Senator Durbin has not yet replied to the survey.

Dear Mr. Uphoff,

Thank you for contacting me regarding health care reform. I appreciate having the benefit of your views and understand your feelings on this issue which affects all Americans and their families.

I believe our health care system has severe deficiencies that must be fixed. Americans with pre-existing medical conditions need access to affordable health care instead of having their medical care denied or being forced to pay outrageous health insurance premiums.  This is an example of the type of sensible reforms I strongly support. 

Before beginning to practice medicine, doctors swear to uphold the Hippocratic Oath which states: "First do no harm."  Unfortunately, I believe that while H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which the House of Representatives recently passed, addresses some deficiencies in our health care system, it also does great harm in many other respects. This is why I strongly opposed the legislation and voted against it. 

H.R. 3962 will cause an estimated 100 million Americans to lose access to their employer-sponsored private health insurance. Employers will no longer be incentivized to provide health insurance to their employees if they know their employees can purchase health insurance through the government. Additionally, Section 202 of H.R. 3962 provides a five-year grace period for current employer provided health plans, unless the beneficiary makes changes, in which the grace period is eliminated. After five years, all employer sponsored plans must meet the same minimum benefit mandates as plans under the government sponsored exchange. This means that despite promises to the contrary, individuals who like their health insurance will in fact not be able to keep it, or will only be able to keep it for five years. 

 H.R. 3962 cuts $160 billion from Medicare by dramatically scaling back Medicare Part C.  This is a program that is working well and which many seniors have come to depend on. Many Medicare Part C plans offer items that traditional Medicare plans do not, such as vision and dental benefits.  H.R. 3962 will also increase seniors' premiums by causing them to pay an additional 20% more for their prescription drugs. I do not believe seniors, many of whom are living on fixed incomes, should be forced to pay more for their prescription drugs in order to pay for the health care of others. 

H.R. 3962 will also increase government spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office, it will cost over $1.2 trillion dollars. The non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation reports this expansion of government spending will raise taxes by $729.5 billion. In fact, Section 551 of H.R. 3962 will impose a 5.4% "surtax" on many small business owners who file as individuals for income tax purposes. This surtax will harm the backbone of our slumping economy when small businesses are needed the most to create jobs.

Additionally, Section 501 of H.R. 3962 will impose a 2.5% tax on individuals who do not purchase government approved health insurance. This tax will only hurt the people that H.R. 3962 is intending to help, because it will punish those who cannot afford health insurance by taxing them and not providing them with health care coverage. In order to help struggling families afford health insurance, I offered an amendment which would have provided refundable tax credits to families with incomes of up to 200% of the federal poverty level ($44,100 for a family of four). These refundable tax credits would have given families trying to make ends meet the ability to purchase health insurance in the individual market. For families whose income is above the threshold, my amendment would have provided them with an above-the-line income tax deduction so they could use pre-tax dollars to pay for their family's health care. Unfortunately, the Majority leadership did not allow a vote on my amendment. 

Instead of working on commonsense reforms which target uninsured Americans, the Democratic Majority has overhauled our entire health care system. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this is leaving our children and grandchildren with over $1.2 trillion in new federal spending. As such, I opposed H.R. 3962 and instead announced my support for legislation that will improve the quality of health care, lower costs and expand access to uninsured American families and those with pre-existing conditions. 

I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of H.R. 3970, the Medical Rights and Reform Act. 

H.R. 3970 protects the doctor-patient relationship, as I believe no government bureaucrat should come between your family's health care decisions and your doctor's medical advice. 

After talking with medical practitioners, I am more convinced that any effort to lower the cost of health care must include a revision of our medical liability laws. For example, in 1980, Americans spent on average $58 on out-of-pocket health care costs for themselves and their families. In 2007, the average American's out-of-pocket spending rose to $268 per person per year.  The dramatic rise in costs can be partially attributed to doctors ordering more services while practicing defensive medicine in order to protect themselves from medical malpractice lawsuits. However, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, a large proportion of medical malpractice awards are given for non-economic reasons like pain and suffering, instead for economic reasons such as loss of wages or child care costs. 

H.R. 3970 limits non-economic damages so doctors in high-risk specialties do not leave their communities due to unaffordable medical liability premiums.  It also incorporates a sliding scale on attorney fees so individuals, not lawyers, are compensated for harm due to medical errors.  Finally, it allows judgments over $250,000 to be paid out in monthly annuities so individuals will be able to budget for future expenses.

I also support legislation which evens the playing field for small business owners and workers. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, 31% of uninsured Americans work for a business which employs 99 or fewer workers. As a result of these statistics, I have co-sponsored H.R. 2360, the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Act, which provides tax credits to small businesses in order to offset the high cost of providing health coverage for their employees. The SHOP Act also encourages the creation of voluntary state purchasing pools.  This means that self-employed individuals and small businesses can protect themselves from insurers who charge more for minor health problems or try to exclude coverage due to pre-existing conditions. Legislation like the SHOP Act ensures more Americans have the opportunity to purchase affordable health care coverage for themselves and their families. 

Furthermore, I support "portability", which is legislation that allows individuals to take their health insurance with them when they switch jobs. Under our current system, people lose their health insurance when they get a new job, causing many of them to be uninsured for a period of time. I believe allowing for the portability of health insurance is vital because it guarantees individuals do not lose access to their doctors during uncertain times in their lives. 

Finally, I understand one of the reasons health care costs have risen so quickly in recent years is due to the systematic cases of waste, fraud and abuse in our health care system. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit, in 2006 and 2007 there were 65 doctors, hospitals and pharmacies that were barred from federal health care programs in five states.  Illinois was included in this number because of previous Medicaid fraud or abuse. Yet, these same barred and excluded groups were still able to write or fill Medicaid prescriptions costing American taxpayers $2.3 million.

The same GAO audit found 25 specific cases of fraudulent or abusive actions related to the prescribing and dispensing of controlled substances. In one case, an individual stole the identity of a person killed in 1980 in order to obtain $200,000 in medical services paid by Medicaid. A second case involved an Illinois mother with a criminal history and Ritalin addiction use her own son as a way to doctor shop for Ritalin and other similar controlled substances.  This cost the Illinois Medicaid program over $6,000.  By ridding our health care system of unscrupulous people, we can ensure that money in our health care system goes to keeping folks healthy, instead of lining the pockets of dishonest individuals. 

Health care reform is one of Congress' highest priorities this year; unfortunately it seems too many in Washington have tried to score political points instead of truly addressing this important issue. You can be assured I will continue searching for solutions to this very real problem for American families. 

As always, I thank you for contacting me with your thoughts on this critical issue.  Please feel free to contact me in the future with any of your concerns. Also, to stay informed on what's happening in Washington, please feel free to sign up for my electronic newsletter, The Schock Report at www.schock.house.gov.

Sincerely,