Preserving and strengthening the doctor-patient relationship is critical to healthcare reform. Patients should always have their choice of doctor, hospital and procedure. No bureaucrat – in Washington or at an insurance company – should be able to delay or choose who, where and what patients receive.

Healthcare costs have ballooned in recent years and are crippling family and small business’ budgets . We must find ways to lower healthcare costs. Substantive ways forward include clamping down on the rampant waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, enacting meaningful tort reform and promoting health information technology.

Government takeovers of healthcare necessarily mean bureaucrats deciding what procedures are allowed and how many are allowed each year. Without our medical ingenuity, Americans will suffer restricted access to innovative and technology intensive procedures like hip-replacements, heart valve replacements and brain surgery.

Ensure Every American Can Receive Health Insurance

We need to deconstruct the “bumper sticker” number of 47 million uninsured and identify the real number of Americans who do not qualify for health insurance to ensure their access to coverage and care. For those millions of Americans who want and need health coverage yet can’t afford it or aren’t accepted because of pre-existing conditions, our healthcare system is broken. The status-quo is unacceptable, and any plans moving forward must ensure a path to coverage for those Americans.

Americans deserve greater transparency from their providers. Patients should be able to make informed decisions for the good of their own health and the accountability of their provider. Transparency will provide an incentive for hospitals to perform better.