Dent, Callahan Share Views on Health Care Overhaul

If you were in Congress next year, what would you do to change or improve the current health policy legislation?

Charlie Dent: Emanuel. The President came to the meeting. I recommended various medical liability reforms. "We had a massive debate on this issue, as you know. It was very frustrating for me, personally. I was invited to the White House in May 2009 to discuss health care with RahmRahm Emanuel said, 'We're going to do that, Charlie.' I said, 'Great, Rahm, what are you gonna' do?' He told me. I said, 'Rahm, That's great, I'll support you. It's not going to save you money, but I have some more ideas for you.' So we had a nice conversation with the President chimng is, 'Yes, we're going to do medical liability reform.'

"When the Bill was written and presented to the American people, not one word on medical liability reform. Why did that happen? The President of the United Staes said it was going to happen, and it didn't happen. He told me and twelve other members, in the White House, there was going to be liability reform. Why? Because the trial lawyers didn't want it. Howard Dean said it very well.

"So what we need to do is control the costs. That's the first order of business. The law deals with expanding coverage, but it does not deal with cost containment. That's why this law is going to fail. It will fail. And it will lead to rationing.

"So what we should do is medical liability reform; we should allow small businesses to reach across state lines where they can receive greater discounts when they purchase insurance; get out from under the state insurance mandates; we should also make sure that individuals can buy insurance across state lines. That is something that we can do, and that will make a very meaningful difference. Because right now, we don't have that in America.

"One other thing that I think we also really need to focus on - making sure that a federal bureaucrat can't step between you and your doctor. We need to protect that. We need that type of patient's Bill of Rights, a Medical Rights Act. That's extremely important.

"So health care is going to be an issue that we're going to have to deal with. We're going to have to defund much of this health care law. The employer mandate's not gonna' work. The individual mandate is problematic. Many of these tax hikes have to go. The 1099 provision in the health care law. If you pay more than $600 to a vendor, you have to issue a 1099 for, a paperwork nightmare.

"So there's so many issues that we're going to have to address, we're going to be spending years."

John Callahan: "[Congressman Dent would] repeal the Bill, and that would be a mistake. That would essentially be taking all the - I mean - who here wants to see the ability of the insurance companies to deny new coverage due to pre-existing condition? Who doesn't want to have the opportunity to cover other kids up to the age of 26 on their health insurance if they don;t have a job that gives them health insurance?

"That's Charlie Dent's plan, to go back to the old policies of before. We all know what has happened in the course of the last 6 years with health care premiums. In the time that Charlie Dent's been in Congress, health care premiums have gone up by 34%.

"We all recognize that this is a central issue to this country, and our ability, not just to provide health care fr our citizens, but to be competitive in the global market place. Charlie Dent wants to go backwards, and not forwards. He wants to repeal the Bill. He doesn't want to improve on it, he wants to repeal it.

"There is medical liability reform in the Bill. There are demonstration projects set u, and I think we should move forward with further medical liability reform going forward.

"But the reality is that there's not a day goes by that I don't talk to a senior citizen that's caught in a doughnut hole, trying to make a decision between paying their rent or paying for their prescription drug bill. And the list goes on and on, and Charlie Dent doesn't see that as a problem. He said when he got elected six years ago that this was issue One. It's not about rhetoric. It's about results. And he has done nothing to move this country forward when it comes to healthcare, and meanwhile, he's accepted $350,000 from those same medical insurance companies."

Blogger's Note: The medical liability demonstration projects mentioned by Callahan have nothing to do with the health care overhaul. They are instead part of an initiative announced by President Obama on 9/9/09. Callahan never really offered any changes or improvements, but chose instead to criticize Dent.