The debate surrounding health care encompasses many facets of our society, while the two political parties attempt to define the Federal Governments responsibility for the burgeoning costs and availability for all Americans.  Two worthwhile goals are the convertibility of the insurance policies as employees change jobs without the concern of being excluded due to pre-existing conditions, and the desire to lessen the number of Americans without health insurance.

As we start again on the process to define Health Care Reform we must have agreement on several aspects.  Among them are:
• The elimination of waste and fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid Program must be addressed first and foremost,
• Medicare is not a solvent government program with an estimated $57 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities so expanding or duplicating it must not be an option,
• Medicaid costs must not be expanded as an unfunded mandate on State governments,
• Mandatory coverage should NOT be enforced through fines, penalties, and potential imprisonment
• A Federal Government sponsored single payer system must not be established without the creation of a realistic budget neutral funding mechanism void of smoke and mirror politics and/or strategies which provide for ten years of tax receipts for a shorter period of benefits in an effort to make the first decade budget neutral and then uncontrolled entitlements thereafter,
• Health care reform must apply to American citizens only,
• The final plan must be equitable and provide “equal protection under the law” to all Americans and sub-divisions of the Nation so no individual State or group of people receive exemptions of any portion of the reform.

Many suggest we can create provide coverage to the uninsured by expending or creating a new Medicare “like” Program, and they point to the “success” we have with the current operation since its inception in 1965.  However, the reported success is grossly exaggerated in that the unfunded liability (the difference between the benefits that have been promised to current and future retirees versus what will be collected in dedicated taxes and Medicare premiums) for the current recipients and the 77 million baby boomers who will begin entering the system in 2011 is $89 trillion and it increased $4 trillion last year alone.  Furthermore, Medicare denies more claims than the top five leading health care insurance companies combined.   That is a success record we can ill afford to duplicate.

As your Senator, I will work to achieve concurrence on the following:
• An aggressive policy to eliminate waste and fraud within our current Medicare and Medicaid Programs – estimated to be in the range of $60 billion dollars a year,
• Allow for the issuance of health insurance programs across State lines,
• Tort Reform to end the ever growing popularity of using our court system as a lottery ticket which in turn increases all health care costs and necessitates the health care provider requesting additional tests for backup documentation.  We must place limits on judgments to reasonable reimbursement costs for malpractice and curb the runaway "pain and suffering" awards.  In addition, we must join the rest of the civilized world with a "loser pays" the legal expenses of the prevailing party to minimize the rising tide of frivolous lawsuits.
• Overhaul government regulations which preclude expedient delivery of new drugs, and provisions to strengthen patents to provide proprietary protection for the required years of research.
• A plan to develop and make catastrophic health care affordable

Please Note:   I make the commitment to all Ohioans to work diligently for the items listed above, but I will be only one vote in the Senate so I need your help.  We will discuss all the action steps at each of the town hall meetings and establish plans to garner support and push ahead with the agenda.