Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz., says he hopes Americans will have a chance to review the healthcare reform plan House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., introduced this week because they will conclude it represents a complete takeover of healthcare by the government.
He also promised that Republicans will unveil a healthcare reform proposal of their own that will deal with the most pressing healthcare issues.
“The real problems are cost and pre-existing conditions and covering some people in America who don’t have coverage now,” he told Newsmax.TV. By pre-existing conditions, Shadegg means people who are denied insurance coverage because of them.
“I think you’ll see us respond to her plan with a proposal,” he said.
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“I think it will address pre-existing conditions in a way that makes sense, so that nobody gets denied coverage. I think it will deal with those who are uninsured right now. And I think it will deal with cost by real competition, not a single government run competitor when we all know what the government will do is cheat.”
Shadegg hopes for a single Republican proposal. “I hope it will be no more than five pages long, because it doesn’t need to be. And I hope it will address the real concerns of Americans.”
Shadegg reiterated his opposition to a public insurance option.
“A public option is designed to force the insurance companies to compete, because they don’t compete right now,” he said.
“But the reason they don’t have to compete right now is because of other government rules. For one thing, you and I can’t buy health insurance, so we can’t force them to compete against each other.”
The tax code prevents that, because while employers can buy health insurance tax free, employees can only buy it with after-tax income if they opt to go out on their own.
“Nobody’s going to do that,” Shadegg said. “We don’t need one public plan. We need to force these insurance companies to compete for our business like they compete for our business for auto insurance.”
To see the video of Rep. Shadegg chatting with Newsmax — Click Here.
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