A Letter To My Representatives

Dear Congressman/Senator Bishop/Hatch/Lee,

I am the Assistant Director of Nursing at an ICF/MR in Ogden. We house 83 individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who require long-term training and care. Every resident in our facility depends on Medicaid for his or her stay here. Our 100 employees depend on Medicaid for their paychecks. The current budget discussions happening in Washington are very concerning to me because of the focus some of the proposals place on reductions in healthcare expenditures. Reducing Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement will place our residents, staff, and community in greater danger of losing jobs and livelihood.

I have a difficult time understanding how making deep cuts to Medicaid, WIC, Head Start, and so forth will do anything to alleviate our nation's real and long-term problems. It's true that our country's health-care costs are out of control, but focusing on who pays the bills is only treating a symptom. We will place in jeopardy the futures of children, elderly and the disabled. What we really need instead is a long-term solution to rising health care costs, so that Medicare and Medicaid expenditures will be reduced along with costs for those on private insurance plans. This problem, I believe, is not being addressed at the national political level where the dialogue appears much more focused on punishing those of the opposite party and fixing short-term problems which are much more about next year's election than they are about solving our health care crisis. This includes attempts to repeal the ACA not because of its provisions, but because of who passed it. This includes budget proposals which don't include revenue increases or cuts to defense expenditures.

I know that we rely on private markets to solve many problems, but healthcare is anything but an open market. Open and functional markets allow consumers to make informed choices. We need real action at the provider and insurance levels to give consumers more information. We need to cut bureaucracy and ensure greater transparency. If every provider and insurance company were required to publicly disclose their charges and reimbursement for the most common procedures, for example, this would allow for greater competition. Don't punish the least powerful citizens of this state for the dysfunction of the most powerful.

I realize that the current political climate appears to punish Republicans with the ability to moderate their rhetoric and appeal to voters on both sides of the aisle. Please know that there are many Utahns like myself with mixed views who are happy to vote for moderate Republicans and happy to influence our friends and family to do the same.

Respectfully,

Jordan Johnsen