News Articles

BY DON MANLEY
The Fort Myers News-Press

The health care reforms proposed by Democrats in Congress all have one thing in common - the federal government would have the power to dictate citizens’ health care options.

So said U.S. Rep. Connie Mack, R-Fort Myers, during his appearance at a breakfast meeting Monday for the Chamber of Southwest Florida. That issue was one of several he delved into in a roughly 20-minute address that was followed by a question-and-answer session.

Mack said the proposed reforms would “bankrupt our country, put bureaucrats - and not doctors and their patients - in charge of care, and spell the end of the private insurance market.”

If the proposals become law, they’d also result in small businesses paying higher taxes to meet government mandates, and make it more difficult to add and retain employees and hamper businesses’ growth.

He suggested several alternatives to what’s been proposed, including:

- Tax incentives to help people pay for coverage

- Allowing small businesses to form health insurance pools to purchase health insurance and provide better coverage at lower cost to employees

- Creating health care savings accounts to increase competition in the insurance market

- Curbing frivolous malpractice lawsuits through liability reform.

“By looking to free-market, limited government solutions to improve our health care system, spur economic growth and create jobs, we can keep the federal government out of the marketplace and out of our private lives,” Mack said.

About 100 people attended the breakfast held at the Holiday Inn Fort Myers Airport and Town Center of Alico Road south of Fort Myers. The topics he dealt with during the question and answer session covered a wide territory.

One question dealt with the health savings account coverage available through many employers that requires subscribers to “use it or lose it” within a calender year where the accumulated funds are concerned. Mack said he supported subscribers being able to “roll over” the savings to the following year, saying it would enhance competition in the insurance market.

Another asked whether Mack believes a health care reform bill will pass this year. He said he believes a bill will pass and stressed that it isn’t Republican opposition delaying matters, but rather Democrats’ inability to reach consensus on a bill’s provisions. He also urged opponents to a “public” or “government-funded coverage option” to continue speaking out.

“If we continue to have a legitimate debate on the issue, I don’t think we pass anything with a public option,” he said.

Will Prather, chairman of the Lee County Democratic Party, did not attend the breakfast meeting. However, in a separate interview, he took Mack and the Republican Party to task for their stance on health care reform.

“There is an arduous debate that’s going on in Congress in regards to health care reform,” Prather said. “There is no silver bullet, but it seems that Congressman Mack’s and the Republicans’ solution is to do nothing and that’s unfortunate. … The status quo is no longer acceptable and if Congressman Mack and the Republicans want to be the party of ‘no,’ and not offer their own solutions, that’s their prerogative.”

At the end of Mack’s meeting, attendee Tyler Patak, an architect with Harvard-Jolly in Fort Myers, said he was “glad to hear that he’s as thoughtful as he is, that he’s not jumping to commitments. But it does appear that when he does commit, he’s committed to things that I believe in,” he added.

Suzanne Sherer of Re/Max Realty Team in Cape Coral and president of the Realtors Association of Greater Fort Myers and the Beach, spoke at length with Mack after the session. After their discussion, she said she wants Mack and Congress to act to force bankers to loosen their purse strings and be more sensitive to Realtor concerns.

“We have a real estate market that wants to rebound, but we need more help from the banking industry,” she said.