Lee: ‘We’re mortgaging the future’

U.S. Congressman Chris Lee wants his constituents to know he’s read the 1,100 pages of the current health care reform bill — and his objections to it are based on research and business experience.“One thing I have done is do my homework,” he told local officials and business leaders at the Livingston County Chamber of Commerce Friday. “I’m a big believer in the fact that it’s easy to say “no” to something, but it’s more important to have answers and solutions to how to reform the system without burdening small business owners.”Lee worries that government isn’t up to the task of managing a complex health insurance system. Private industry, with its drive to control costs and seek efficiencies, will always do a better job, he believes. “The U.S. spends two times per capita what other countries spend on health care. I look at this as an opportunity to cut out lots of waste, fraud and abuse.”Lee sees health care reform as a way to help make American businesses more competitive in the global market. Efficiencies in health insurance will ultimately result in more jobs and lower prices on exports.“I should be voted out of office if we can’t get real reform done.”In the 1,100 pages of the current health care reform bill, known as H.R. 3,200, there is “not a single paragraph” addressing doctors who practice defensive medicine, Lee points out. The American Medical Association estimates unnecessary tests and treatments prescribed to avoid medical malpractice lawsuits cost consumers between $84 and $151 billion a year. Among other measures, the AMA supports a $250,000 cap on non-medical damages.Why doesn’t the bill address liability reform? “The current administration accepted $80 million in contributions from the personal injury lobby in 2008,” Lee claims.The Congressman also questions the number of uninsured — 47 million — that Democratic leaders claim are uninsured. He says 10 million are illegal immigrants who should not qualify for benefits. Several million more are recent college graduates and other young adults. Lee believes those young adults could have access to health care if insurance companies offer riders to keep them on their parent’s health plans until they’re 26 years old.Lee has sponsored an alternative House bill called the Medical Rights and Reform Act which includes provisions to improve information technology systems, offer incentives to states that reform insurance markets and extend flexibility and control to lower income families.He also supports allowing insurance companies to cross state lines and for companies which operate in several states to pool their employees into a single plan in order to save money.“I want to take real dollars out of the system instead of just sharing costs,” he said, pointing out that the current reform plan is like a “shell game,” where public insurance beneficiaries will be subsidized by private insurance companies. Present public health care systems like Medicare and Medicaid keep costs down for their members, but those costs get passed on to other patients. A public health care plan would only pass those costs on to taxpayers, he contends.As an example of government waste, Lee described H.R. 1018, the “Restore Our American Mustangs Act” which would create 19 million additional acres above an existing 30 million acres set aside on federal land for free-ranging wild mustangs and burros. The $700 billion bill would also include a horse census and birth control programs.“I tell my Democratic colleagues, ‘We’re mortgaging the future of this country. Please stop.”During his visit Friday, Lee also visited with physicians and staff at Tri-County Medicine in Geneseo, appeared on WYSL’s Bill Nojay Show and toured the Lakeville Grain Elevator.


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