GOP Lawmakers Opposed To Reform Reflect On Their Own Experiences

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP;  Public Health
Article Date: 22 Sep 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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Two Republican lawmakers with extensive personal interactions with the health care system warn of the dangers in health overhaul.

The Associated Press reports on Rep. Sue Myrick, (R-NC), who has battled breast cancer, and her concerns about reform. In a Republican radio address over the weekend, she noted that her diagnosis "took six doctors, three mammograms and one ultrasound before they finally found my cancer. This process took only a few weeks," she said and questioned if the system being proposed by Democrats in Congress could be as efficient.

She also raised questions about higher taxes for small business owners and cuts to Medicare. The AP reports: "Myrick said the overhaul 'comes at a price tag of roughly $1 trillion in the midst of a year in which the government continues to set new records for red ink.' Obama has set a 10-year spending target of $900 billion for lawmakers considering various proposals" (9/20).

Meanwhile, NPR interviews Rep. Ron Paul, (R-Tex.): "One of the strongest opponents of government intervention in reforming the health care industry is Ron Paul - a Republican congressman from Texas. He's known to some as 'Dr. No' for his opposition to tax hikes and refusal to vote for spending bills. He's a doctor by training - an OB-GYN - and he's written a new book called End the Fed - as in the Federal Reserve. He tells Weekend All Things Considered host Guy Raz that he doesn't believe health care is a right."

Paul said: "'I do not believe peoples' needs or desires or wants or demands are rights. Once you do that, you embark on a system of government that is uncontrollable. You have a right to your life, your liberty and you should have a right to keep what you earn. So I do not believe medical care is a right. And that's one of the problems that we're facing today and why there's so much confusion on what we ought to do about health care'" (9/20).

This information was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with kind permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives and sign up for email delivery at kaiserhealthnews.org.

© Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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