Prior to representing the great people of East Tennessee in Congress, I served for 30+ years as a licensed community pharmacist. Healthcare issues and solving patient problems are near and dear to me.
As a member of the House Republican Doctors Caucus, I understand the importance of reducing health care costs and increasing access to care. And I know how Obamacare has wreaked havoc on our healthcare system, driving up costs, making the system more complex and confusing, and empowering bureaucrats and insurance companies over patients. Our current healthcare system is deeply flawed, forcing folks into insurance plans that don’t fit their needs and away from doctors they trust.
Unlike the government-run overreach of Obamacare, I believe in personalized medicine as part of a reformed and modernized healthcare system, one where patients and healthcare providers have more ownership and control over their own healthcare dollars and decisions. This sort of modernized healthcare system should include:
- Common-sense patient protections
- Competition and consumer choices
- Price and quality transparency
- Reducing our reliance on China and other adversary countries
- Addressing health professional workforce shortages
- Rooting out waste, fraud and abuse
- Incentives to lower or restrain costs while improving quality, access and innovation
Guided by these principles, as a member of the House Committee on Energy & Commerce I am taking an active role in developing and supporting meaningful legislation and policies that will make a difference for individuals, families, patients and providers in East Tennessee.