Affordable Health Care

“Somewhere in America right now an 8-year-old girl comes home to her mother and father and says she has a numbness and ache in her right arm, and they worry about it, wondering whether it is just a strain from playing on the playground or whether she has a serious disease of her nervous system. But they can't send her to the pediatrician because they do not have enough money left in the family budget this week and they have no health insurance. The question before the House is whether or not to provide health insurance for that family and that little girl. Yes or no? The bill says ``yes.'' It pays for it responsibly by a modest increase in the cigarette tax and by eliminating subsidies to health insurance companies. You can say whatever you want, but the question comes down to that: yes or no? It is time we voted ``yes'' for that little girl and her family, voted ``yes'' on this bill.”

“There is a child in America right now who needs to go to the pediatrician, but his or her parents are unable to afford healthcare coverage even though they have jobs. The key question is whether we should provide healthcare coverage for that child and family? I say without question we should. “
(Op ed- Drafed for The Hill Newspaper April 14, 2008)

-- Congressman Rob Andrews

After four decades of talk from the Washington status quo, Rob Andrews understands that our country needs to actually fix health care. Here is what he would do:

• Reduce prescription drug prices for seniors by repealing the Bush law that prohibits Medicare from negotiating the best and fairest price it can from the drug companies.
• Help all consumers and businesses stop skyrocketing premiums by passing a law to force health insurance companies to compete for your business.
• Help get everyone insured by
  • permitting people 55 and over to enroll in Medicare as long as their employer pays what would be the government's share,
  • cover every uninsured child by expanding the SCHIP program,
  • help small businesses cover their employees by providing fair subsidies,
  • passing a law requiring huge employers who can afford to insure their employees but who do not to cover their employees or pay into a plan that would cover them-- and end the free ride for the Wal-Marts of the world.
• Pass a patient's bill of rights so that insurance companies actually have to cover the benefits they promise.