3rd District Congressional Candidate and Owner of an urgent and family care clinic Jon Russell calls on Brian Baird to vote against government takeover of private health care.
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The United States Congress is considering a health care bill that will raise taxes, increase regulations and levy fines against small business to achieve nationalized health care under The American Health Choices Act of 2009.
“I am calling on current Congressman Brian Baird to do the right thing, on behalf of the small businesses and patients in Southwest Washington and oppose any health care legislation that does not bring forward a private sector solution for affordable health care,” said Russell.
As the owner of an urgent and family care clinic, Jon has created a non-government solution, providing basic health care for the uninsured working poor. Through working with non-profit organizations and churches Russell’s clinic developed a network of health care sponsors, who financially partner with patients to address their health care needs.
“Health care reform does not mean increasing government control over health care. Most people do not want medical-welfare from the government; they just want access to affordable private health coverage,” said Russell.
Government has a long and sad track record of failure when administering health care. Medical providers are typically reimbursed for their labor at 39 to 45 cents on the dollar at best. Additionally, the bureaucracy, forces many providers to hire one or more full-time employees just to deal with paperwork and regulations. The problem has gotten so bad that many medical clinics have shut their doors to Medicare and Medicaid patients. A new government run health care program will not help patients; it will only exacerbate the existing inadequacies and create a new class of people dependent on the government.
“I have been in health care long enough to know that we do not suffer from a health care crisis; rather our political leaders suffer from a lack of vision and new ideas. What our nation needs now are leaders who are willing to think outside the box in regard to health care by fully engaging the small business and nonprofit sectors in the health care reform discussion. ” said Russell.
There are great plans emerging in affordable health care such as: health care cooperatives; non-profit health care vouchers; personalized health insurance plans; non-profit free clinics and small business insurance pools. Jon believes these ideas must be a part of a national strategy to decrease the cost of healthcare and increasing health care accessibility. Unfortunately, we may never know the full potential of these ideas; because government is attempting a huge health care power grab, which will knock these ideas out of existence.
The underlying question of the whole health care debate is this: How will Brian Baird and the rest of Congress pay for this government run health care plan? The American Health Choices Act will cost 1.3 trillion dollars (CBO). Meanwhile, the public still hasn’t heard Brian Baird’s plan for repaying the 11 trillion dollars in deficit spending he has already voted for over the last 10 months. 
Jon Russell is seeking the Republican nomination for Congress in the 3rd Congressional District.