"It is unacceptable for the United States to spend more on
health care than any other nation in the world and simultaneously be one of the
only industrialized countries that does not have affordable access for all of
its citizens. No one in our nation is secure, except for the very, very,
wealthy and even these families may not be as secure as they think. Many of
our people, many, many, of them insured have had to file medical bankruptcy. We must recognize that our health care system is not working for patients but
for the corporate elite, legislation is being written not by Congress but by
lobbyists that have allowed them to do so. If you send me to Washington I will
stand up for the public interest. If you send me to Washington I will fight
for your families to secure affordable health care for every American."
Larry Smith-September 26, 2007, "Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington Town Hall Meeting Vietnam Veterans Chapter 172."
Larry Smith will work to develop a plan that will provide
access for every American and support lifting the huge and ever expanding
burden on increasingly shrinking number of employers that provide health care
coverage.
Larry Smith grew up in a family in which both parents
worked, however; there was no health insurance. Today this is the expanding
reality for many of our families. The rapidly increasing costs of health care
are undermining the dignity and standard of living of our working American
families.
A health care policy that responds to the public interest
not special interests and lobbyists.
Larry Smith will fight for an affordable health care
policy that provides access to the dignity of health care for every
American. If we send Mr. Smith to Washington he will fight for a
comprehensive and national policy that keeps costs down through targeting
the flaws and inefficiencies of our system, including gouging by health
insurance companies and pharmaceutical industry that focus on profit care
more than people care.
Larry Smith will fight to ensure that our health care
policies are no longer being written by special interest groups and
lobbyists such as the Health Insurance Association of America and the
American Pharmaceutical Association. HMO's, pharmaceutical corporations,
and other insurers have seen some of the highest profits of any sector of
the economy, and yet more and more of our families are left on their own
to face the fears of not being able to get adequate care if their child
has asthma, or if the are afflicted with any sickness or disease. Larry
Smith knows first hand from working with families and children everyday as
a pubic school administrator that any illness can leave a family broken
and bankrupt.
Supporting adequate physician and dental access to rural
areas will continue to be a challenge for many of our communities. Larry
Smith will propose a $5,000 tax credit to nurses, physicians and dentists
who practice in a rural area per year, for up to 5 years to assist in
attracting, retaining, and assisting health care practitioners in
integrating technology, and ongoing emphasis on professional development
critical to meeting the challenges unique to our rural communities.
