This is an archive of a past election.
See http://www.smartvoter.org/pa/state/ for current information.
Lancaster, Berks, Chester Counties, PA November 4, 2014 Election
Smart Voter

True Healthcare Reform

By Joseph R. "Joe" Pitts

Candidate for US Representative; Pennsylvania Congressional District; District 16

This information is provided by the candidate
When there is no competition, prices go up--just like popcorn at the theater. That is the fundamental problem with American healthcare. Endless layers of government regulation also drive up prices. The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") has made the problem worse, not better.
Americans enjoy very high quality health care, but also suffer from unnecessarily high prices. Most people know how much their insurance costs them, but have never seen the price of the actual services they receive. The efficiency and consumer power we see almost everywhere else in the economy can't work in our current healthcare system. The Affordable Care Act helped a few people by hurting everyone else. More rules and more people on government-run insurance mean even less competition, and higher costs for everyone.

We need real reform that makes healthcare work more like the rest of our economy. Basic free-market economics could reduce insurance prices and increase the quality of care. Republicans have a very strong record of successfully introducing free-market forces into healthcare. Medicare Advantage plans and the Medicare prescription drug benefit were both designed this way and have been very successful as a result. Republicans also created the CHIP program for kids, and Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Savings Accounts for adults who want to take charge of their own healthcare spending. We have many more reforms in mind, like allowing interstate competition in private insurance and letting people keep take their insurance with them from job to job. We hope to replace the Affordable Care Act with these kinds of commonsense, market-based reforms.

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
November 2014 Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter


pa/state Created from information supplied by the candidate: July 7, 2014 19:24
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund.
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.