The Healthcare Cost Crisis: A Crisis of Entitlement or Personal Responsibility?

GREEN BAY, Wis., May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following statement was issued by Terri McCormick in May, 2010:

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The retirement of Congressman David Obey (D-WI-07) last week marks the end of what can be dubbed as "The Era of Entitlement."  All too often in public policy today, the political class elected to office generations ago trust that government can and should be all things to all people.

Home for my family is Wisconsin's Eighth Congressional District, represented by Dr. Steve Kagen (D-WI-08).  Kagen's votes in Congress have towed the same top-down, elitist mindset as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Barack Obama. To me, it appears that these politicians believe that they know best, are entitled to taxpayer dollars, and can turn to the Federal Reserve to print more money whenever they run out.

As a result, tenured politicians have overspent and overburdened the American people to the point of economic ruin.  There is now a jobs crisis, especially here in Wisconsin and a collapsed value in the dollar.  Worse yet, politicians rammed through a so-called health care reform bill that will actually raise costs and put more burdens on consumers during this recession.  

Just yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office said they did not have enough time to score the health care bill because it was rammed through in such a desperate and partisan fashion. In response, Americans of all stripes have organized Tea Party groups to protest the inability of both parties to advocate for the hurting American taxpayer.

No one can afford the blank check that Congress has written.  Those who are paying attention are sick and tired of this new prescription for entitlement health care written by a government filled with tenured politicians who say one thing and do another at the expense of the American people.

I believe we must return to the basics of American governance. "Back to basics" underscores the importance of personal responsibility, which should be the norm and not the exception.  Healthcare policy must return to the once common-held belief that personal health care choices are more desirable than top-down solutions from the federal government.  

Personalized health care choices not only help the consumer, but they will also empower our suffering economy and will result in the restoration of a stronger, more competitive health care industry.

We all know that Washington, DC has dug a hole so deep with the infamous "Christmas Eve Health Care Bill Earmarks" that it could take generations to climb our way out of the near $13 trillion debt.  The alternative is quite simple:  Health care policy should begin with reducing costs and improving health care quality for consumers.  

Through private-sector entrepreneurship and American innovation, the health care cost crisis can be resolved.  American consumers seek the freedom to choose their own health care professionals with full transparency of cost and quality.

Serving in public office is an honor, not an entitlement. To resolve the healthcare cost crisis, policy makers must focus on the economic forces that will bring about personal responsibility, free-market transparency, and a more competitive healthcare industry.

Terri McCormick's Five-Point Plan to Reduce Health Care Costs:

1. Quality and Dignity of Life Firstn

Individuals and families must be provided the freedom to choose their own doctors, procedures, preventative care treatments, and prescription drugs by encouraging private ownership of one's own medical histories and emergency information.

2. Portability

A refundable tax credit of $2,300 per individual and $5,700 for families will be provided to purchase health care coverage from any source, including across state lines or from any national health care provider.

3. Transparency of Cost

The quality and costs of medical procedures and services must be provided and be easily accessible so that Americans may choose the best practice and cost that fits their needs.

4. Peace of Mind

State-based high risk pools will provide access to affordable care for those with pre-existing conditions. Many states, including Wisconsin, have already implemented such a pool.

5. Protecting Families

Tort reform will lower the cost of health care by lowering the cost to practice medicine and by protecting the victims of malpractice by capping the percentage tort lawyers may take from money supposed to be used to heal a victim or a victim's family.

It is my hope that concerned Americans -- who outnumber those not concerned -- will continue the discussion in their communities and states until the politicians either get the message or are booted out of office and replaced by citizen leaders. We must always remember that when solutions spring forth from the people, we are a stronger nation for it. Our republic is strengthened through individual liberties and personal responsibility that has resulted in the American Dream for so many.

Terri McCormick is the author "What Sex is a Republican? Stories from the Front Lines of American Politics." She had the honor of serving as a Wisconsin State Representative from 2001 to 2007 and Chaired the House Economic Development Committee and the House Subcommittee on Healthcare Cost Reform. She is a Republican candidate for Congress in Wisconsin's 8th Congressional District. Her website is http://www.terrimccormickforcongress.com.

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SOURCE The McCormick Standard