Dear Joe:

Thank you for contacting me to express your opposition to a government takeover of our health care system. I appreciate having the benefit of your views as I share them.

Clearly, any time a child or a parent goes without the care they need, it represents a very serious crisis for that family. And, I understand that health care costs are escalating every year. But as health care represents 17 percent of our total economy, we have to get any “reform” right. Unfortunately, the President and the Congressional Majority are not “getting it right.”

They seem intent on a government takeover of health care that would have devastating consequences for families and small businesses. Such a takeover will raise taxes, weaken Medicare, ration care, and let unelected government bureaucrats in Washington make medical decisions that may end up denying access to medical and life-saving treatments.

Despite what the President says, more than 180 million Americans are at risk of losing their current private health care under a government-run plan. In addition, proposed Medicare cuts could threaten the very existence of our fine local hospitals. Moreover, the House Majority’s current health care plan is financially unsound and will add to, and not lessen, our staggering national debt.

Instead, Congress should work to empower doctors and patients by making health care more affordable, more accessible, and more accountable. The American people deserve the freedom to choose the health care that is best for their families!

I support health care reform, but we must preserve what works: protecting the doctor-patient relationship in addition to allowing people to choose the personal care that suits their individual needs.

At this point, there is no firm date for the House health reform debate to begin but you should anticipate that it will be a rushed process. Speaker Pelosi says she will unveil a new health care bill, “when it’s ready.” Of course, this is another way of saying that H.R. 3200 will be rewritten behind closed doors and we will have little time, if any, to review its contents!

Fundamentally, I support reform efforts to make quality health care affordable and accessible for every American, but any proposed reform needs to proceed slowly and carefully and must be bipartisan.

Once again, thank you for contacting me.

Sincerely,
Rodney Frelinghuysen
Member of Congress

For those of you looking for more information about the Congressman, you can head over to his website and learn more about him.

I do, however, want to share a link that I found while looking around USA Today’s website this morning. A review of the numbers shows that older white males are losing their jobs in this recession, but also that they are unable to find new jobs.

Jobless rates for men and women older than 55 are at their highest level since the Great Depression, government data show. White men over 55 had a record 6.5% unemployment rate in the second quarter, far above the previous post-Depression high of 5.4% in 1983. The jobless rate for older black men was higher — 10.5% — but more than a percentage point below its 1983 peak.

The most remarkable change is in the unemployment rate for black women: 12.2%, far below the historic peak of 20% in 1983. Hispanic unemployment is about 6 percentage points below historic highs, too.

A cursory review of those numbers shows that older white males, as a population, are still doing much better than the rest of the populations out there. However, I notice that they don’t breakout the age ranges for the black women or any additional demographic information for the Hispanic population.

What I like about the article is that it talks in detail about three older white guys who lost their job and details what’s going on in their lives. USA Today is good at writing these types of stories so if you have some time, give it a whirl.