September 17, 2003-Today Representative Trent Franks joined House conservatives who voted in favor of the Medicare Prescription Drug and Modernization Act of 2003, to send a letter to Speaker Hastert expressing concern over the possibility of a weakened market-based health care reform bill.
“The outcome of this debate has profound implications for the financial future of Medicare itself and the nation in general,” Franks said. “My vote for H.R. 1 included the caveat that the market reforms contained in it would not be stripped in conference.”
The letter to Speaker Hastert states: “…we will vote no on the prescription drug bill out of conference unless it includes four specific reforms that were part of the reason we voted for H.R. 1:
1.) A policy of no price controls on the U.S. drug industry to insure continued innovation and financial health of this vital industry.
2.) A policy that requires Medicare to compete with private insurers after the year 2010 so that taxpayer costs will be driven down through the forces of competition.
3.) A generous expansion of health care savings accounts to give health care consumers more options in choosing health plans and coverage that meet their individual needs and control costs.
4.) Finally, as we stated prior to our votes in favor of the House bill, the conference bill must include a cost control feature in the bill that guarantees that the price tax will not exceed $400 billion over 10 years.”
“This nation needs a complete transformation of the health care industry, similar to the successful free-market reforms in the telecommunication industry.” Franks said. “The highway of history is littered with the wreckage of governments who presumed they could create and manage productivity and consumption better than free markets. This government must not join that litany. It is time to redirect the nation toward fiscal sanity. Market-based health care reform is the right and responsible thing to do.”
