http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/ct-perspec-0314-lahood-20100314,0,3364029.story
I've been a Republican all my life, when I served in the Illinois legislature, when I worked for members of Congress and when I served in Congress. During the 2008 presidential election, I supported Republican Sen. John McCain. I have always been — and still am — a fiscal conservative, an advocate for a smart, but restrained, government.
For those reasons and others, most people wouldn't expect me to be an advocate for comprehensive health care reform. But the truth is, I believe there is no bigger issue to solve and no better chance to solve it than now.
If I were still a member of Congress, I would proudly vote for the bill that President Barack Obama is championing and I would urge my colleagues to do the same, not because I don't believe in fiscal discipline, but because I do.
We do not need to look that far down the road to see the pain that failure to pass health care reform will cause. Americans of every background, class, race and political persuasion are suffering. We have the best health care system in the world, yet more than 40 million Americans lack access to it, a reality that is morally reprehensible. Health care is an essential, as important as food, water and shelter. Those who don't have it are left without the tools to survive.
In the coming days, Congress has a chance to change that. The bill that will be voted on will reduce the deficit by about $ 1 trillion over the next two decades, and will reduce waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. It will slow the rate of growth in health care costs and put America back on the path toward fiscal sustainability.
The bill will give families and small business owners greater control over their own health care. It will expand coverage to more than 31 million Americans and will include tax credits to individuals, families and small businesses, giving them the same choices that members of Congress have to purchase private coverage. It will create state-based exchanges that will bring competition and transparency to insurance markets. And it will put in place common-sense rules of the road to hold insurance companies accountable and end some of the most outrageous practices of the insurance industry.
Never again will people be denied coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. Never again will insurance companies be able to raise rates unfairly — like the 60 percent hikes expected in Illinois.
While the ultimate vote on health care may not be bipartisan, the ultimate bill certainly is.
There are several Republican ideas in the bill. It allows Americans to buy health insurance across state lines. It increases the bargaining power of small businesses by allowing them to pool together — much like large corporations or labor unions — to bargain for a better insurance rate. It gives states the flexibility to come up with an alternate health care plan, and it gives them resources to reform our tort system by developing new ways to deal with medical malpractice.
I also feel compelled to remind my former colleagues that contrary to what many people have been saying, the bill explicitly prevents federal dollars from being used to fund abortion. It ensures not only that those seeking abortion coverage will be required to pay for it with their own money, but also that their personal money will never be commingled with federal funds. As a former congressman with a 100 percent pro-life voting record, I'm comfortable supporting this bill.
There isn't one member of Congress who represents a district that is without a health care crisis. There are good, hardworking men and women in every part of this country who work for a living, but not at a business that offers the opportunity to purchase health insurance. On their own, the cost of insurance is just plain out of reach.
During my time in Congress, I was known for reaching across the aisle. I did it not for the sake of bipartisanship alone, but in order to get important things done.
Now, my former colleagues have the opportunity to change the lives of their friends and neighbors for the better by voting for health care reform.
Niles Crane
Republicans can support anything they like, but if they vote for anything that veers away from conservative principles then they are not Republicans, but RINOS. There is no room at the inn for RINOS anymore!
sailormon
RINO!!!
Steve G
Bravo!
My Business Plan
Strangely, he works in the Obama Administration. Of course he is going to say we need health care, he needs his job. Must be yet another scoundrel in DC, covering his butt so that he can benefit.
MobFather
lol..
Nnow you know why he's no longer in office.
As will so many of your Democrats this November.
Old School ♥ ♦ MC ♣ ♠
Wow there is ONE Republican thats a start!!
Concerned
Doesn't sound like you know much about it.
I looked at your answers to other questions. Your not a republican and should not claim to be. RINO or liberal would be a better fit.
You left out some important points. Or was that on purpose?
The 500 Billion cut from Medicare was counted twice.
there is 1 trillion in new taxes.
It is not deficit neutral.
There are NOT 40 million Americans without HC. You must be including illegal aliens.
Half of Obamacare has already been passed in the Stimulas Bill.
The creation of more worthless federal boards and councils were in the stimulus bill and are now in place. According to Dr. Dave Janda:
"The first part of The Obama Health Care Plan was buried in The Stimulus Bill which was signed into law by the President in February. It is the second part of The Health Care Plan which is now being debated in Congress."
"The underlying method of cutting costs throughout the plan is based on rationing and denying care, not preventing health care need. The plan's method is the most inhumane and unethical approach in cutting costs. The rationing of care is implemented through a Council, equivalent to the National Health Care Board in the British Health Care System. The name given to this panel is The Federal Coordinating Council For Comparative Effectiveness Research ("Federal Council"). (Section 9201 H.R. 1 Version of the Stimulus Bill.)
DemocratsCleaningUpGOPMessAgain!
If you truly are a Replican that has finally seen the light I applaud you. Like Arlen Specter, you need to come over from the dark side and make your voice and vote be heard as Democratic as is our form of government! Our esteemed President Barack Obama as well as the Democratic majority in Congress needs each and every supporter it can get!
As you well know, Liberal left wing Democrats have always wanted to fix a Health Care System that has needed reformed for many, many years and is totally out of control now with sky-rocketing costs and insurance companies getting rich denying both coverage and care. Our product isn't as good as other industrialized nations and its delivery is even worse; plus to think that the richest nation on the face of this planet doesn't insure or provide health care/insurance to each and every one of its citizens is absolutely unconscionable!
Orignal From: Q&A: Written by a republican please read: Why Republicans should support health care reform?
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