A Letter to Patrick Murphy Regarding HealthCARE

I believe that we need tort reform. Any discussion of healthcare reform with out this is non-sense. The exorbitant cost of healthcare is due in large part to frivolous law suits which result in unnecessary care being given to patients out of fear of lawsuits, and exhorbitant malpractice insurance costs which are then passed onto the end user.

I believe that individuals should be given the same tax deduction when they purchase their own insurance as their employer gets for purchasing it for them.

I believe that we should be able to choose our insurance plans from among the 1000s that are available throughout the country rather than being limited to the 3 or 4 that we can currently choose from in PA.

I believe doctors who donate their time and services to the poor should be able to deduct this from their Federal Income Taxes as a charitable donation.

I believe that we should be able to buy a term health insurance plan like we do with life insurance.

Regarding the question about what kind of reform we need in order to cover the uninsured: Why is every option for providing health insurance an option that requires the government to provide it? This should be about making sure that the poor, the old and the sick are able to get healthCARE. The idea of insurance is a means to an end. Do some or all of suggestions above and the costs will come down considerably, making it easier for hard working families to afford the care they need, while not robbing us of our most basic freedoms.

As for the question of pre-existing conditions, certainly nobody should be denied coverage because they've been sick. That is why you get health insurance. But we must be responsible in how we approach this. Perhaps I could be open to the idea of subsidizing the risk pool for the insurance companies if they assume the risk of insuring those with pre-existing conditions, but frankly I just don't trust Washington enough right now to handle even that money appropriately. If the money were collected and administered at the township or county level and the Federal Gov were left out of it, that would be ideal.

To sum it up, I believe that no man should be enslaved because another man needs healthcare (not a doctor, nor a "taxpayer"). United States citizens are the most generous people in all the world and yet your colleagues in congress and our President believe that we need to have our money stolen from our pockets, run through the government sausage maker and then dealt out to those who need healthcare. If we were able to keep more of our hard earned money, not only would we be able to better afford our own healthcare, but we could bypass the beaurocracy and have more to give directly to those in need.

Be a true "Blue Dog" Mr. Murphy. Vote "no" on anything that even remotely resembles the non-sense currently running through congress and push for true "Common Sense" reforms that will not cost us money we don't have (have you seen the debt clock?), nor strip us of our individual liberty.

I put a great deal of thought into this, and I would appreciate it if you actually read it and consider it. If you plan on responding to me with a form letter, or the usual platitudes, save your bandwidth as I would only appreciate a personal and reasoned response.