Dear Senator


My name is Christopher Filby and I am a 50 year old citizen of Maryland. I was born in and live in Frederick, MD and my health care insurance premium each month is nearly $650.00 for HMO coverage through my employer. This is a fringe benefit so it is not an out of pocket expense. I have tried to shop for a less expensive policy to help save my employer money but I am not able to find insurance at a lower rate due to my weight and high blood pressure. If my employer goes out of business I will be faced with the COBRA option that will require me to pay the individual rate for my policy which I will likely not be able to afford.

I don’t know how much it cost to go to my doctor because I never see a bill other than the co-payment I give them when I receive service. I know approximately what the service cost because I’ve paid cash for it in the past, but I’ve have not seen an actual in years. If citizens do not know what they pay for health care services how are they supposed to judge whether there are real savings? Real savings are savings to real people, not savings in terms of relevance to the Gross Domestic Product. Average Americans cannot begin to imagine that kind of correlation. Any attempt to sell savings that way means nothing to Joe Six Pack.

It is obvious that health care reform is needed in the United States. However, the current plans being circulated through the Congress are not the answer. They fail to address important issues. They pander to special interest and fail to help citizens be able to afford quality health care and insurance premiums that are manageable. They are so complex that no one can understand them, and quite frankly no one has even read 100% of what has been written. If Congress does not read what it votes on and hurries bills through to the President to sign into law before he reads it how can the American people have any confidence whatever in the work that is being done on Capitol Hill. Health Care represents nearly 1/5th of the US economy. It deserves more than a rush job for political expediency. If you are not going to do it right, do not do it at all. It is not fair to the people who voted to send you to represent them, and even to those who did not.

Unless you address Medical Malpractice Insurance by capping punitive awards that cause doctors to have to pay premiums that are often more than their incomes in their first year out of medical school unless they work for a group that can spread the risk. Then the doctor can spend his or her income on the debt they have incurred in medical school that they often spend as much as five or more years to retire. Unless there is Tort reform that requires Courts to reject frivolous lawsuits that cause insurance premiums for clinics, doctors, and hospitals to have overhead cost that are so high it is nearly not worth staying in business. Unless you address these things and more there can be no real health care reform. Unless you provide a safe harbor for OBGYN doctors so they are not held responsible for deliveries of children until the child reaches the age of majority in the state in which they are born there can be no real health care reform. Unless you address the abuse, fraud, and waste in the Medicare and Medicaid systems there can be no real health care reform.

None of these things cost the American people a lot of money. None of these things make life harder for anyone except perhaps the Trial Attorneys and Mal Practice Insurers. All of these things will have a MAJOR SAVINGS IMPACT on the cost of health care and health care insurance premiums for everyone. The bottom line here is that you can make a difference in the Senate because in the Senate each member can use the rules to make sure attention is given to them, that their voice is heard; this is why it is known as the Greatest Deliberative Body in the World. You have the power to make sure that Health Care is done right. That real change can be made.

Americans do not want a single payer Canadian Style or European Style health care system. Americans are not going to pay high taxes for the benefit of government run insurance or government competing in the free market. Americans are not going to stand for the lies that Taxes on the Rich will not cost the Middle Class or the Poor. It all “trickles down” whether it is from an independent business person or a major corporation through higher prices for goods and services. People eventually will pay no matter how you want to package the lie. The American people are not stupid and they are quickly losing their ignorance. It is time to do the right thing, regardless of who is in the White House and regardless of who is in the majority in Congress. Health Care should not be a political football.


Sincerely,


Christopher Filby