The Republican Main Street Partnership Praises House GOP’s “Health Care Solutions Group” Effort

Main Street Member Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) Provides Key Leadership in Healthcare Reform Effort

Contact: Chris Barron
(202) 286-4533

(Washington, D.C.) – The Republican Main Street Partnership praises the House GOP’s “Health Care Solutions Group,” which yesterday outlined their healthcare plan proposal. “We want to thank the Health Care Solutions Group for their efforts at crafting healthcare reform that will lower costs, increase access and do so in a way that our nation can afford,” said former U.S. Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA), President and CEO of the Republican Main Street Partnership. “The principles laid out yesterday are an important step towards meaningful and effective healthcare reform.”

“We would especially like to thank Rep. Dave Camp, a Main Street member, who is providing key leadership on this reform effort,” continued Davis. “Rep. Camp, working with Minority Leader John Boehner, Rep. Roy Blunt and Rep. Eric Cantor, among others, is demonstrating that healthcare reform is not – and should not – be a partisan issue.”

The House Health Care Solutions Group principles for reform are intended to:

1. Make quality healthcare coverage affordable and accessible for every American regardless of pre-existing health conditions.

2. Protect Americans from being forced into a new government-run healthcare plan that would: a) eliminate healthcare coverage that more than 100 million Americans currently receive through their job; b) limit your choice of doctors and medical options; and c) result in the federal government taking control of your healthcare

3. Let Americans who like their healthcare coverage keep it, and give all Americans the freedom to choose the health plan that best meets their needs.

4. Ensure that medical decisions are made by patients and their doctors, not government bureaucrats.

5. Improve Americans’ lives through effective prevention, wellness, and disease management programs, while developing new treatments and cures for life-threatening diseases.

To reach these laudable goals, the Health Care Solutions Group has proposed a variety of common-sense solutions. To lower costs the Health Care Solutions Group would create refundable and advanceable tax credits; allow states, small businesses and associations to band together to offer health insurance at lower costs; implement medical liability reform; and end waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid.

To expand access to quality, affordable healthcare, the Solutions Group proposes to: make it easier for Americans to keep their coverage regardless of the loss or change in a job; encourage state to create a Universal Access Program to guarantee coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions; strengthen employer-provided health coverage; and allowing dependents to remain on their parents’ health policies up to the age of 25.

The Solutions Group also detailed a number of proposals to promote prevention and wellness.

“The efforts of Dave Camp and the Health Care Solutions Group are an important contribution to the debate over healthcare reform. Main Street urges the President, as well as Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, to work with the Health Care Solutions Group to craft a bipartisan approach to healthcare reform that will lower costs, increase access, and do so in a financially responsible way,” concluded Davis.

Republican Main Street Partnership (RMSP) is dedicated to promoting and building a pragmatic, thoughtful, fiscally conservative, and inclusive “Governing Majority,” where political debate is encouraged to promote solutions to improve the lives of all Americans. Embracing the full spectrum of center-right ideologies and values in order to build coalitions, RMSP is the largest organization of elected leaders who are in the mold of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Ronald Reagan. For more information on RMSP, visit our website at www.republicanmainstreet.org.