Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Reforming health care
I believe that health care reform must focus on access to services and reduction of costs. I supported the Affordable Care Act, but understand that it is not perfect. I also support the principle of individual responsibility and the conservative idea of the individual mandate, as developed in 1989 by the Heritage Foundation. On average, 1 in 5 dollars in Maine is spent on health care -- that is too much. Solutions must be found to fix this failing system in order to keep it from breaking completely and leaving Americans unable to afford the health services they need. As a country, we must reduce the cost of healthcare in part by moving toward outcome-based models of compensation, rather than fee-for-service. Further, there needs to be a much greater focus on primary and preventative care.

I support healthcare coverage for contraception. I also support the provision of the Affordable Care Act which ensures that insurance companies cover preventive care without co-pays including mammograms, cervical cancer screenings and contraception.

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