My Letter to Congress: H.R.3590 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

I oppose H.R.3590 - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and am tracking it using OpenCongress.org, the free public resource website for government transparency and accountability.

Sincerely,
Kathy Trelc

Dear Paul,



Thank you for your letter regarding healthcare reform and the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).



Although it's far from perfect, I truly do believe we have the finest
healthcare system in the world. We need to preserve what works in our
system and work to improve what does not. Unfortunately, the new
healthcare law does neither. It is designed to lead to a government
takeover of our entire healthcare system (1/6 of our entire economy).



I have no faith that the government has any capability of doing that
effectively or efficiently. If this law is fully implemented, it will
result in rationing, lower the quality of care, and dramatically
decrease medical innovation. That is the inevitable result of
government run, socialized medicine.



Unfortunately, the damage to the quality of our healthcare is only half
the problem. This law will also lead to trillions of dollars of
deficit spending over the next two decades because the cost of this new
entitlement has been significantly underestimated. We simply can't
afford it. We are already facing a debt crisis in this nation caused
by out of control government spending and the growth of entitlement
programs that are not financially sound. It will be difficult enough
to fix current programs without adding an entirely new entitlement.



The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act should be repealed so we
can start over and address the real problems of our healthcare system.
We should start with medical malpractice reform that would save
hundreds of billions of dollars in unnecessary tests and junk lawsuits.
We should return healthcare to the free market to lower costs and
improve quality and customer service. Allowing individuals to purchase
insurance across state lines, reducing mandates that drive up the cost
of insurance, encouraging the growth of Health Savings Accounts,
equalizing the tax treatment of individual versus employer purchased
care, improving medical information systems, and fostering patient
centered care should be the type of solutions we pursue.



We need these kind of commonsense reforms that address cost and
affordability without sacrificing the high-quality care for all
Americans or stifling the innovation that saves lives.



Thank you again for taking the time to share your thoughts. It is
important for me to hear the views and concerns of the people I serve.
Since taking office, I have received over 400,000 pieces of
correspondence and have had over 180,000 participants in live forums
and telephone town hall meetings. Please feel free to contact me in
the future if I can further assist you or your family. It is an honor
representing you and the good people of Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.







Sincerely,


Ron Johnson
United States Senator