Health Care
Ensuring the Well-Being of Alaska's Families

I have long supported legislation that increases access to health care, decreases medical costs, promotes healthy lifestyles, and provides essential funding for medical research.  I am dedicated to reaching sensible solutions for both uninsured Americans and small businesses that often are harmed and even put out of business by the soaring costs of health care and government regulations.  Unfortunately, though there were some positive elements to the bill, the recent health care reform legislation that was signed into law in March does more to harm Alaskans than help.  Those of us who serve in Congress must do our best to correct some of the problems that this new law has already created and will continue to create.

I believe in producing results instead of promises. Here are just a few of the things which I have been working on as your Representative in Congress.

Repeal of the Patient Protection and Care Act (PPACA)
In March, Democrats passed the Patient Protection and Care Act (PPACA) to overhaul the U.S. health care system, which makes up 16% of our economy.  There were many problems with this bill that I knew would negatively affect Alaskans, so I vehemently opposed its passage.  PPACA requires all Americans to carry insurance, starting on January 1, 2014.  Failure to do so carries a penalty of $2,250 or 2% of income, whichever is greater.  Also, an excise tax of 40% is imposed on health plans valued at more than $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for family coverage, starting in 2018.  The new law cuts $500 billion from Medicare, and this does not even begin to touch on all the new taxes Americans are expected to pay.  The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has estimated that these bills will increase the average individual’s premium by 10 to 13% more than what would have occurred by making no changes to the current health care delivery system.

This is not the health care reform that most Americans had envisioned.  Therefore, I have signed on to H.R. 4910, to repeal PPACA.  I also support Governor Sean Parnell's decision to have Alaska join with 20 other states suing the federal government over the individual insurance mandate, as I believe it is unconstitutional.  Further, I have worked with my colleagues on plans that will not dramatically change the elements of our health care system that work well, but that will address problems such as access to care and cost of coverage.  I am a cosponsor of two bills, H.R. 2516, the Medical Rights Act, and H.R. 3218, the Improving Health Care for All Americans Act.

 Representative Mark Steven Kirk’s H.R. 2516 would do the following:

• Allow low-income families not enrolled in public programs to decide whether to join public programs or opt into private plans through advanceable tax credits
• Grant small businesses and self-employed individuals the same tax incentives that large corporations receive for purchasing insurance for employees
• Reform malpractice lawsuits by providing protections for providers, stabilizing compensation for injured patients, reducing defensive medicine, and encouraging states to adopt health care courts
• Increase the health care workforce through programs, grants, and tax incentives.
• Replace the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) with the Medicare Economic Index (MEI), which is Medicare’s measure of the increasing costs of providing medical services

Representative John Shadegg’s H.R. 3218 would do the following:

• Allow Americans with employer-sponsored insurance to keep these plans with no penalties or added taxes
• Provide a refundable and advanceable tax credit of up to $2500 for individuals and $5000 per family for medical costs
• Create new avenues for affordable health care for the sickest Americans through high-risk pools and reinsurance mechanisms
• Make health care more portable so individuals will not need to stay at a job to keep their health coverage by expand the insurance pools Americans can choose to join.

Both H.R. 2516 and H.R. 3218 seek to address the issues that most Americans have with health care today, and I believe they are far more sustainable and affordable reforms than PPACA provides.

Bringing More Doctors to Alaska
One of the greatest obstacles that Alaskans face is access to health care services.  I have sponsored H.R. 5889, which would amend the Public Health Safety Act to set aside an additional 10% of the National Health Services Corps scholarship program for doctors who agree to serve in medically underserved areas.  It further amends the Social Security Act to allow all hospitals, no matter where they are located, to qualify as having an Integrated Rural Track (IRT), so long as the program sends residents to train for 3 or more months at a time in a rural area, and sufficiently covers obstetrics, pediatrics, and emergency medicine.

The only residency program in Alaska is located in Anchorage. Because of this, the program does not qualify as an IRT, even though the residents travel throughout the state for their training. Being designated as having an IRT will allow the Providence Residency program to open up additional residency slots – which will encourage more primary care physicians to stay in Alaska to practice.

Bills Cosponsored

H.R. 1708 - Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act
This bill would phase out the waiting period for disabled individuals to become eligible for Medicare benefits and eliminate the waiting period for individuals with life-threatening conditions to become eligible for such benefits.

H.R. 2516 - Medical Rights Act 
This bill would allow low-income families not enrolled in public programs to decide whether to join public programs or opt into private plans through tax credits, grants small businesses and self-employed individuals the same tax incentives that large corporations receive for purchasing insurance for employees, and reforms malpractice lawsuits by providing protections for providers, stabilizing compensation for injured patients, ensuring meritorious claims are resolved quickly, reducing defensive medicine, and encouraging states to adopt health care courts.

H.R. 2708 - Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments 
This bill would reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

H.R. 2784 - Partnership to Improve Seniors Access to Medicare Act
This bill would create a program that would provide $20,000 a year in student loan repayment to medical professionals who agree to fill up to 30% of their practice for the year with Medicare patients for each year the health provider participates in the program.

H.R. 3218 - Improving Health Care for All Americans Act
This bill would provide a refundable and advanceable tax credit for medical costs (up to $2500 for individuals and $5000 per family), makes health care more portable so individuals will not need to stay at a job to keep their health coverage, and allows churches, alumni associations, trade associations, and other civic groups to set up new insurance pools and offer affordable health care packages to their members.

H.R. 4910  
This bill would repeal the Patient Protection and Care Act.