Law Makers Voice Opinion on Health Care

Representative Nathan Deal (R-GA): "America's health care system will achieve its full potential only when all Americans have their own affordable and portable health insurance plan, and all Americans are empowered to make the health care decisions that are truly best for them and their families. The system can be made more affordable by encouraging competition on the basis of price and quality of care.

Acting U.S. Comptroller General Dodaro: The U.S. government faces structural deficits of staggering proportions in the coming decades" and "the principal cause is the escalating cost of health care. The health care system needs to provide incentives to help contain costs and greater transparency about the actual value and costs of various health care options," as well as "examine how to better define, deliver and finance health care ... both in the public and private sectors. The challenge is for policymakers to act soon. There is a window of opportunity to act and phase in meaningful changes that will allow providers and the public time to adjust -- but that window is shrinking."

Senator Mike Enzi (R-WY): Enzi writes that his bill, called "Ten Steps to Transform Health Care in America” would "save lives and money" through "the adoption of cutting-edge information technology." He continues, "We urgently need to act so that doctors can harness the transformative powers of information technology," concluding, "Americans shouldn't have to wait until next year to get the health care reform they need today."

Representative Lois Capps (D-CA): HR 1078, proposed by Capps, would reimburse oncologists who "take the extra time and care to develop comprehensive treatment summaries.”Congress needs to keep pace" with cancer research "so that cutting-edge cancer treatment can be accessed by all Americans," she adds, concluding, "Standardizing comprehensive cancer care planning will enable us to reach this goal and improve cancer survivorship for all."

Representative Tom Price (R-GA): According to Price, higher medical costs and distorted any illusion of a true health care marketplace." According to Price, legislation HR 2626, that he has proposed would allow "patients to purchase health care coverage wherever the best plans exist and reins in the burdensome cost of defensive medicine." He concludes, "Regardless of the outcome in November, it is my hope that our approach to health reform has the proper focus -- the patient."

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT): In order to control health care spending and improve quality in "the long term, we need to move toward a national health care program that guarantees health care to all as a right, not a privilege."