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Health Care Comments The emails below are actual comments submitted by constituents to Rep. Garrett's health care email account, healthcarehotline@mail.house.gov. Mr. Garrett: I am a cardiothoracic surgeon in NY and live in Allendale, NJ. I recently read a letter you wrote regarding health care legislation being considered in the House. I was encouraged by your sentiments. As a physician, I share your concern over the creation of a government option which could eventually marginalize private insurers and exert undue influence over health decisions made for our patients. We need to find a way to fix the problems with our health system without destroying our strengths. Our health care is outstanding at providing timely, advanced care. Training and research in this country are also superior. I believe we should strive to find ways to ensure that all citizens can access care when they are in need. Another important issue is to find ways to control costs long term without rationing care or sacrificing research. As you point out, medical liability reform may be one part of this solution. I appreciate your efforts. Please feel free to contact me if I can be a resource to you or your staff. Sincerely, RS, MD ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Congressman Garrett- I am a voting practicing radiologist and I fully support everything you outline in your recent mailing. While it may be a noble objective to extend coverage to individuals who are lacking, this reform needs to be done in a budget neutral way. Not by bankrupting private insurance companies and forcing individuals into a single payer, government run plan. Once again, democrats have demonstrated their disingenuousness when it comes to a health care overhaul. While nearly every industry is evaluated for possible cost savings in healthcare, once again, there is no mention of medical malpractice reform. This extends beyond the traditional talk of caps on damages. We need to discuss a system of perhaps special health courts, with experts presiding to expedite cases. This is one area of reform which has not been mentioned, and needs to be urgently addressed. Additionally, the funding model for the current House bill would include approximately $500 billion dollars in Medicare reimbursement cuts. Who does the government think will see these patients as reimbursement continues to go down? An issue which has not been addressed is if reimbursements go down and the number of covered individuals increases, who will be seeing these patients? To the point, who will want to become doctors? Why take on $150,000 in debt to get through medical school when a physician won't make enough money to pay off those loans? In the other single payer system countries, medical training is subsidized or is free. This issue is not addressed in any version of health care reform. In short, Congressman Garrett, my family and I stand in support of you in the fight against so called health care reform. Any one who supports this bill will not see my vote in the future. Respectfully Yours, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congressman Garrett, I think your ideas about healthcare reform are on the mark. I have worked all my life paying into a system for Social Security and Medicare and am now within several years of having access to the benefits I have paid for. I have seen how Medicare has been abused by certain doctors in treating my recently deceased mother-in-law. Medicare abuses must be fixed, but not with a loss of meaningful treatment. Medicare is a prime example of how poorly government management of funds can hamper proper and effective treatment. Fix the Medicare waste, punish those doctors that abuse the system and the savings will be exponential. I am opposed to any new government controlled medical plan and will not support any members of the House or Senate that support such an initiative. Additionally, if any "plan" is brought forth, all members of the House and Senate, as well as the President should be required to accept that plan as their healthcare plan. Sincerely, DP ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Rep. Garrett, Thank you for sharing your overview regarding health care. I found your perspective refreshing and concise. The points you highlight are exactly what we all understand as the benefits of our current health care system compared to the "other developed nations" as it was referenced by our president for which we pay more in comparison. These points are exactly why "they" come here and we don't go there. For that, it is worth to pay more when it matters most. If the current administration has it's way, there will be no other option. Conversely, the challenges you point out as to what should be corrected is also exactly what we would have expected from the other party instead of a "let's hurry up and pass something". If we were to model our defense systems based on what the other so called "developed nations" base their defense systems on, we would be at a great disadvantage. My question is simple, why is the current administration so dead set on pushing their health care bill through without knowing all the facts, such as costs, instead of fixing the problems we have with the current system as you so eloquently explained in your health care update? It seems to me, they don't have all the facts or think the people are very naive and that they have a hidden agenda which is not so hidden. Thank you again Mr. Garrett. You have my full support. Regards, MC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I couldn't agree more with Rep. Garretts take on health care. Tell Obama and the house dems to stay the heck away from the best health care system on the face of the earth. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Representative Garrett: Thanks immensely for your email of July 31st on the above. I am most appreciative of the effort you and other Republican legislators are putting forth to make some sense of Pres Obama's efforts to rush thru legistlation which will be costly and get the govt more and more involved in health care. I agree with and am most concerned that I do not want the rationing of health care, nor do I want bureaucrats and special interests to stand between me and and the care I need. As a senior citizien this is of primary importance to me. Please do not cave in to the Presidents unreasonable pressures but continue your good work to craft meaninful legislation and proper health care reform. Keep up the good work and do not lose faith. Your constituents support you fully. God bless. RC ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congressman Garrett, I worry about our freedom in the future. Government run programs are not the solution. I am proud of our country and hope we can find solutions that allow us to keep our freedom of choice vs government controlling our every move. I feel as if we are all children and it is up to the government to protect us in every way. The government is here to represent us not the other way around. Please, if not for us than for our children, and their children’s children. Keep it a country we are proud to be a part of. Keep the “American Dream” alive for them. I am confident that you will do everything in your power to influence congress of our principles. ENDURE THE FIGHT AND CONVINCE THEM! LETS WIN! Truly yours, EW ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bravo Congressman Garrett! I agree with your vision and applaud your efforts. PLEASE, PLEASE stick to your stance on this health care reform and encourage your collegues to do the same. A government run health plan is not the answer. Opening up the lines for competition from independant companies is! When left to our own creativeness and innotativeness, we can thrive as a country. Government plans and regulations will stifle us. Thank you for your time and energy on this! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Mr. Garrett: ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Congressman Garrett, I have already written to you about my concerns about health care. I am glad to see that we see eye to eye. My family and I appreciatae all that you are doing. I wish there was something more I could do to help you and to prevent the devistation of our health care system. I worry about my families and my countrie's "health care fate" if the Obama Health Care Plan becomes a reality. I have written to you, the senators in New Jersey and my congressman and senators in New York and Vermont where we own property. If there is any thing else I should do I would appreciate you or your staff letting me know. I am a nurse and my husband is a physician and because of this I think we have quite an understanding of what is currently being proposed. Thank you, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you for giving me a chance to comment on President Obama's health care initiative. I am deathly afraid of what is trying to be done with health care by this Administration. I agree that our healthcare system is in need of major reform, but I don't want the government running it. I am fortunate to be in good health, but as I approach my 40's, I know things can change. I want to choose my doctors, have access to the most innovative medicine in the world, and know that my doctor can send me for whatever tests he/she feels necessary....IMMEDIATELY! I want my children to have access to the same and I want to know I will still have great care when I retire. I have also been fortunate to have coverage all my life. My parents were always employed and I have been covered under jobs in my adult life. I had Cobra available to me during times of a lay-off and, no matter how difficult, I paid the money to continue coverage. Now, as an at home mom, I am covered by my husband's insurance plan. My biggest concerns with our current healthcare is the rising costs (we seem to be getting bigger co-pays for certain procedures) and not being able to get coverage when there is a pre-existing condition (I know people in this situation). My husband was self-employed for a time and many of his friends are too (trade jobs) and they pay a lot of money for healthcare coverage for their families. $1500 per month for a family is a huge expense. If there were a way to offer plans that didn't discriminate against pre-existing conditions and to base individually purchased plans based on income (perhaps a percentage or a tax credit)- that would be some improvement. I also don't think children should be without coverage. It is not their fault if they come into this world to irresponsible or dead-beat parents. Nor is it a families fault to be poor. The children should not suffer. In conclusion, I have had numerous mammograms and a biopsy for an area in my breast. Thank God it has been nothing that requires any treatment at this point, but my doctors are on top of it. They have me get scans 2x a year, there is a tiny "clip" in the area of the biopsy that allows them to pinpoint the area of concern and I get letters reminding me to follow up by a certain time of the year. I don't know what kind of precautionary treatments I would get under Obama's healthcare. I fear, not much. Then if anything is ever found, do I go on a list for the government to review. Then do I let the government tell me what treatment I get and how much of it I get and for how long? I hope not....not ever. Thank you for this opportunity. PT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Representative Garrett: It goes without saying that health care cost are an ever-increasing problem for both private citizens and employers and finding a way to control costs is undeniably an issue that must be addressed. Unnecessary testing due to provider fear of lawsuits, malpractice reform and competitive market pricing are just a few areas that should be focused on. However, the answer is not in establishing yet another government-run program which will likely be mismanaged and designed in such a way that it will be 'broken' from the start! As a working American, I have seen too many programs funded with my taxes which are riddled by wasteful spending and enable individuals who are capable of contributing but choose not to. I must also agree with you that both Medicare and Medicaid are in desperate straights and must be repaired before any new government program is enacted. Many of the Medicare rules penalize employers for offering health care insurance to their employees. For example. Did you know that if Medicare erroneously pays for an employed beneficiary's medical service they will demand that the employer reimburse them for their error plus assess interest and penalties even though the employer has no control or knowledge that the claim was submitted? Medicare does not make any effort to determine if a beneficiary or his/her spouse is employed, nor do they require the beneficiary or provider who (knowingly or not) submitted the service to Medicare to refund the erroneously paid benefits. I can not begin to count the number of times that a Medicare representative has acknowledged to me that the benefits should not have been paid but that federal law allows Medicare to recoup their financial loss by making the employer responsible to reimburse them. This is just one example in many which demonstrates the government's total lack of accountability when spending taxpayer dollars and worse, disdain for employers who actually provide health insurance for their employees. Additionally, I am in agreement with you that the United States is the world leader in health care science and technology and to do anything which would jeopardize our standing in this area would be catastrophic. It is for this reason that I will never support a system which encourages mediocrity and discourages our continued progress in disease prevention and cure -- or not allow me to choose the health care plan that is right for my family or reduce my ability to access the services that I am willing to pay for. In closing. Do we really want a system which would result in waiting months to have an MRI or receive necessary treatments for diseases such as cancer as our neighbors in Canada do under their government run health system? I certainly do not! This is why it is critical that as our Representative, that you fight the Democrats' notion that everyone is 'entitled' to the same level of care via a government run health care plan, which will result in more individuals loosing employer-sponsored coverage and/or a health insurance plan which they are willing to pay for. Thank you. Respectfully, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In reply to your email about health care, I just want to say that I agree and would feel much more comfortable with the changes to our system that you talk about. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Congressman Garrett, My name is [LC], I am a single parent, who has no means of support other than myself. I went back to school in 2003 and graduated Bergen Community College with an Associate Degree in Allied Health and became a Registered Respiratory Therapist and work crazy hours to be able to provide for my daughter, myself and my mother. In addition to my own expenses, I financially take care of my mother, I provide her with shelter and food minus a little contribution from the small amount of money she earns between her paycheck and social security check. If this bill HR-3200 passes and if Obama gets what he wants, then eventually most of us who currently work in the hospital setting or the millions of people working for insurance companies, along with God knows how many other individuals will be out of jobs and small businesses will be shut down. The legislation will not actually save money, but will increase the costs of health care in this country, it will increase the high deficit which we already have, it will increase all our paychecks with more taxes. My mom's hours were cut back in the beginning of the year and along with that so did her insurance, like so many other people in this world. So naturally we try to minimize the doctor visits, however there are office visits and such that are unavoidable and need to be taken care of. However, there are always expenses popping up in addition to our daily lives, such as prescriptions, co pays for visits and lab work, so I truly understand the need that everyone should have some sort of health care coverage. That being said, I truly believe that this Health Care Reform proposal that Obama wants to pass is not in the best interest of all individuals and businesses alike, it will have consequences that can be labeled as massive and destructive to the economy in addition to our well-being, not just mine or yours, but to every U.S. Citizen. Can you picture yourself or better yet can you picture the President or his family standing on line (as most individuals who currently have Charity Care do) waiting for the next doctor or nurse to be available to take care of you. These are human beings, not automobiles. Our vehicles will be getting better service than we will. There has to be another way to provide individuals who truly have no health insurance coverage with some type of coverage, such as the "NJ Family Care". I am sure if they look at it hard enough they will find a way. Please on behalf of myself, my daughter, my mother and my extended family, friends and co-workers, please oppose this HR-3200 bill. I thank you for taking the time to read my email. Sincerely, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, I agree with all the points you made in your email. Please keep up the resistance to this healthcare bill. We do not want government to make our healthcare decisions. We need to make sure there are conscience clauses to protect healthcare workers from performing procedures they are morally against. I don't understand why we can't just have another medicare, medicaid type coverage that would be available for anyone who has no insurance and leave the rest of us who are covered alone. and there are a lot of people who choose not to pay for healthcare coverage, but go on and buy all kinds of frivolous things. the majority of us shouldn't have to provide them with healthcare. there is a certain degree of responsibility that people should be upheld to. thank you for working against the current plan that is up for a vote. CO ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scott Garrett, Thank you for your letter of July 21 about the AMA and the proposed H.R. 3200. By way of background, I am a New Jersey native, practiced medicine for 15 years, served as a hospital physician executive for another 13 years and currently run the physician-hospital relations practice for a national health care consulting company. My major problem with all the proposed legislation to date is that it is about "payment/insurance" reform. Barely seen, if at all, is the need for clinical care reform and what ultimately drives the costs of health care. Challenges of unnecessary clinical practice variation and the unnecessary costs associated with defensive medicine and administrative "hassle" costs are not addressed. I fully support a demonstration project in New Jersey to begin to address the issues of clinical practice variation that ultimately drive the costs of health care. As an experienced physician who has seen life from different sides of the health care conundrum, I am mortified to even think of the consequences of ramming through a reform that will create the GM of health care. In the short run it might look like progress was made. In the long run it will destroy any chances for meaningful and thoughtful clinical practice reform. BC Related Documents: Related Files:
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Congressman Scott Garrett Proudly Serving the 5th District Of New Jersey
