Garrett speaks out on health care bills

RICHMOND — President Obama hasn’t talked enough about the real reasons health care costs are running high, Del. Scott Garrett, R-Lynchburg, said at a news conference Monday.

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling also criticized federal health care bills at the news conference, which was sponsored by an arm of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Bolling said the U.S. Senate version of the legislation could cost Virginia between $200 million and $500 million per year in new Medicaid expenses.

Garrett said the event’s organizers asked him to talk about the federal legislation because he is a doctor, and retired from a general surgery practice he conducted for about 20 years in Lynchburg.

“I come to you today because I am very concerned,” Garrett said at the news conference. “I am concerned that our president has publicly stated that his proposal for health care reform will make the health care system more sustainable and provide greater cost controls,” Garrett said.

“However, President Obama has failed to address some of the major drivers of increasing health care costs, including medical liability reform and waste and duplication of services in our system,” Garrett said, going on to list six problems with the system.

A good federal health care bill would let people, and small businesses, join larger pools or groups of people buying health insurance, Garrett said. “Allowing these economies of scale would help more individuals benefit from health care,” he said.

People also should be able to buy health insurance from companies based in other states, and have more options in the kind of insurance they buy, Garrett said.

Tort reform, or protections from lawsuits by patients, also is necessary, he said. “We must change the way patients and health care providers interact within the legal system if we are to fairly compensate those with legitimate concerns while preventing frivolous lawsuits,” he said.

Garrett said he was sued once, and the case was dropped.

Also, people should be able to deduct the cost of insurance premiums from their tax bills, Garrett said. Unless a person’s health care costs exceed 7.5 percent of gross income, no deduction is allowed, and “that doesn’t cover very many Virginians,” Garrett said.

Health insurance should be portable, he said, following a worker from one job to another so there’s no gap in coverage, especially in a tight job market.

Finally, pre-existing health conditions should be covered by a new insurance plan, Garrett said. Current law allows employers’ health plans to deny coverage to new employees who have pre-existing health problems that have been treated in recent months.

“We need simple, pragmatic reforms offered from both sides of the table,” Garrett said.

“If we truly are trying to achieve meaningful reform, my friends, these proposals cannot be limited to those that are popular and will make people want to vote for a particular candidate because he or she is the champion of a particular reform proposal,” Garrett said.