Bringing Options and Innovation Back to Health Care

Statement

This month, the Supreme Court will issue its ruling in King v. Burwell, the case challenging the legality of Obamacare subsidies on federal exchanges. As we have seen before, the Court's decisions can be very unpredictable.

If the Court rules in favor of the King plaintiffs, we will need to find short-term solutions to assist those on the federal exchanges. A ruling in favor of King would also provide an opportunity to pursue patient-centered policies and get government out of deciding Americans' health care. If the Court rules in favor of Burwell, however, we will need to continue our efforts to help those impacted by Obamacare's rising insurance costs, burdensome regulations and bureaucratic mismanagement.

Congress is currently working to address several of Obamacare's onerous regulations which threaten to ration access to health care. In our Ways and Means Committee meeting this week, we debated and passed 10 health care bills to send to the House floor. Among them are two bills I cosponsored to support consumer choice and medical innovation.

The Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act, which passed the Committee in a bipartisan vote of 31-8, would repeal the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). Under Obamacare, this fifteen-member panel of unelected bureaucrats would have the power to limit access to medical treatments by reducing Medicare reimbursements for certain procedures to the point where physicians simply would no longer provide them. Acting as a major barrier between patients and their doctors, this unaccountable bureaucratic body would have the power to make significant cuts to Medicare and determine the types of care seniors can receive.

Instead of placing these decisions in the hands of an unelected board, we need to empower seniors to make their own health care decisions with the advice of their doctors. At the same time, reforms to Medicare must continue to be made to restore the integrity of our health and retirement security system. These reforms should go through Congress to ensure proper oversight and the necessary leadership from both parties to make Medicare sustainable.

In addition to wedging government firmly between patients and their doctors, another Obamacare regulation stifles innovation. The Committee passed the Protect Medical Innovation Act this week, which I also cosponsored, to repeal the medical device tax. Instead of encouraging investment in life-saving medical advancements, this tax forces medical device manufacturers to sacrifice jobs and research opportunities to send more money to the IRS.

Taxing medical devices not only passes more costs onto consumers but discourages the development of new technologies to improve health care. Because this tax is tied to revenue instead of profits, it also has the potential to drive firms struggling to develop new advances out of business. The bipartisan commitment to eliminating this tax is promising, and I hope the Senate will soon pass this repeal as well.

With the impending King v. Burwell decision and recent data released by the White House predicting more Obamacare premium hikes in 2016, House Republicans will continue offering fresh policy solutions to restore consumer choice in health care. I am hopeful Congress can work together in the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling to do what is best for Americans and bring options and innovation back to health care.

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