As the House of Representatives begins the process of attempting to repeal the new health care law, I feel compelled to write this letter.

I (and many of my colleagues) am puzzled and disappointed over the House’s attempt to entirely repeal the new health care law.

Why do you and so many members of Congress oppose:

• Children staying on their parents’ health care insurance until age 26.

• Prohibiting insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions.

• Requiring everyone to have health insurance; don’t we do this with auto liability insurance?

• Prohibiting insurance companies from discriminating based on pre-existing conditions

• Requiring everyone to have health insurance (don’t we do this with auto liability insurance?)

• Providing tax credits for small businesses to cover employee health care costs

• Eliminating co-payments for preventative care

• Giving people a choice about medical coverage (government vs. private)

Is the new health care law perfect? Probably not. Does the non-partisan GAO Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov) believe it will significantly reduce costs over the long run? Yes.

The GOP (www.gop.com) Web site states, “We oppose government run health care…” Does that mean the GOP also opposes Medicare, the social insurance program administered by the United States government since 1965, which provides health insurance coverage to people aged 65 and over?

Instead of supporting the GOP position to repeal health care reform, I’d like to see a commitment on your part to work for legislation that will make this reform better.

For example:

• Allow individuals and small businesses to pool together to purchase insurance, much like large corporations do.

• Permit families and businesses to purchase health care across state lines (One can purchase auto, life, and other insurance across state lines, why not health?).

• Reimburse for medical expenses based on outcomes, not based on the number of procedures doctors/hospitals perform (similar to Minnesota’s reform)

• Provide more robust incentives for high-deductible Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), where people are more sensitive to health care costs.

We need to “put a stake in the ground” and start somewhere with health care reform. Your constituents don’t want you to rehash the contentious health care debate we have witnessed over the last two years. It has taken over three decades to get some sort of health care reform passed. Rather than derailing the whole health care reform, work to make it better.

Ripping up the reform and starting over is not the solution.

Eric Radman