Jane Norton Health Care Reform

There are no easy decisions in healthcare, but solutions are best found in empowering families and individuals and their doctors – not politicians and bureaucrats – to make important healthcare decisions. Government intervention always limits choices. We should empower people by giving them more choices and by promoting competition to drive costs down and increase access to healthcare. Enacting a government-run public option is something that neither I nor a majority of Coloradans and Americans support.

What we need are common sense and market-based solutions that will slash costs without ceding control of 17% of our economy to the federal government: medical malpractice tort reform that limits expensive and frivolous lawsuits that drive up healthcare and insurance costs and result in unnecessary defensive medicine; tax equity so that those who buy their own insurance receive the same tax benefits as those who get insurance through their employers; high risk pools so those with pre-existing conditions may be covered; portability of health insurance; making cost and quality information plainly available to consumers; changing regulations that discourage individuals and small businesses from utilizing Health Savings Accounts; and giving small businesses the opportunities to pool risk and resources across state lines.

I have an extensive background working on the issue of health care reform. Governor Owens asked me to serve as point person for his Administration on reforming Colorado's healthcare system. This effort focused on improving health care for low-income, working families through commonsense reforms; giving individuals and families more power over their health care decisions; helping rural Colorado meet its unique health care challenges; and on making health insurance more affordable for Colorado’s small businesses.

During this reform push in Colorado, we successfully passed legislation allowing small business to purchase a lower cost, basic health plan with fewer government mandates; requiring a thorough cost/benefit analysis on any new mandated health insurance benefit proposed by the legislature before it can be imposed on consumers; and limiting increases in medical malpractice premiums. I am proud of what we accomplished in Colorado and will bring that same record of success to the Senate.

Mail: Jane Norton for Colorado, Post Office Box 3008. Greenwood Village CO. 80155-3008. Phone: Campaign Phone Number: 303-488-2010

TEXT and PHOTO CREDIT: Jane Norton for Colorado