Press Releases

In advance of their first idea forum today, the chairs of the Task Force on Health Care Reform released their mission statement. This mission statement, laying out the goals of the task force, marks the next step in the development of a bold, pro-growth agenda that Republicans will present to the country in the coming months.

Republican leaders launched the development of this agenda in January, announcing that it will address five issue areas: national security; jobs and the economy; health care; poverty, opportunity, and upward mobility; and restoring constitutional authority. Taking a bottom-up approach, committee-led task forces will develop this agenda, holding idea forums to take input and ideas from all members.

For additional updates, visit Speaker.gov/ConfidentAmerica.

Mission Statement: Task Force on Health Care Reform
Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-GA)
Education and the Workforce Committee Chairman John Kline (R-MN)
Energy & Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI)
Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX)

Mission Statement: To modernize American health care with patient-centered solutions that improve access, choice, and quality, lower costs, promote innovation, and strengthen the safety net for the most vulnerable.

Obamacare is proof that putting the government at the center of our health care system harms patients, families, providers, and businesses. This is why we need to replace Obamacare’s obsolete, one-size-fits-all approach with innovative, market-based, patient-centered solutions.

To achieve the best outcomes and get results for the American people, this task force will follow key principles of patient-centered health care:

• Empower every American with the ability to gain access to coverage that is affordable and portable.
     
• Provide Americans with more choices, not mandates, so they have the freedom to pick plans and providers that best fit their unique health care needs. 
        
• Protect the quality of care for all patients – including those with pre-existing conditions.
      
• Promote innovation to improve competition, harness the power of new technologies, lower prices, and foster better cures and treatments for patients.
      
• Save Medicare and Medicaid to strengthen health care security for seniors and America’s most vulnerable.

To that end, the Chairmen of the House Ways & Means Committee, Energy & Commerce Committee, Education & the Workforce Committee, and Budget Committee are focused on building consensus around specific health care policies that reflect these principles and will hold hearings to advance real patient-centered reforms, including:

• Innovations in employer-provided health care coverage;
      
• Health tax expenditures;
      
• Reforming broken insurance markets;
      
• Increasing state flexibility and sustainability in the Medicaid program; and
     
• Saving and strengthening Medicare.