Hoeven: Congress must repeal and replace health care law - Valley News Live - KVLY/KXJB - Fargo/Grand Forks

Hoeven: Congress must repeal and replace health care law

Statement from Senator John Hoeven:

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today issued the following statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act:

"The U.S. Supreme Court's decision today again makes it clear that President Obama's health care law passed by Congress in 2010 is not only government-run health care, but is a tax on the American people. This is not the approach Americans want or deserve. Congress must repeal and replace this government-run approach with step-by-step, market-based reforms that lower costs and empower individuals to choose their own insurance and health care provider.

"To do that, we need to promote more competition and choice in our health care system by selling insurance across state lines; expanding health care savings accounts in combination with low-cost, high deductible plans to appeal to young people; incentivizing tort reform to help lower medical costs; cutting down on waste fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid; and rewarding Medicare providers that produce good outcomes at lower costs, as we do in North Dakota.

"Any new plan should include the Frontier Amendment, which ensures that North Dakota health care providers are reimbursed for services at the same rate as providers elsewhere in the country; allow young people to stay on their parents' insurance plan until age 26; and not deny coverage for preexisting conditions. But we need to work with the American people to enact commonsense health reforms that will improve our health care system, lower costs and empower Americans to make their own health care decisions."