Senator Dr. Tom Coburn Talks Health Care Reform

By Jeffrey Smith, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R) - Oklahoma says his plan for health care reform would immediately lower health care costs by 15 percent. He's hitting the airwaves to get that message across.

"We have too much government, we don't need more, we need less," said Senator Coburn.

After facing the nation on Face The Nation, Senator Coburn spoke with The News On 6 about why he says his proposal is best for Oklahoma

"What Washington is doing now, is treating the symptoms of the disease, rather than the disease," said Coburn.

2/26/2010  Related Story: Tom Coburn To 'Face The Nation' After Health Care Summit

One in every $6 spent in this country is on health care. Coburn, who is practicing physician, says there's $180 billion worth of fraud every year. He says if you just address fraud, and have meaningful tort reform, health care costs would drop 15 percent. He says Medicare and Medicaid are broken systems, and has proposed using undercover patients to expose fraud.

"That's why private insurance only has a one percent fraud rate," said Coburn. "They're looking to see if it's appropriate, and they question it before they ever pay it. Medicare pays it first, then goes out and tries to collect the money afterwards. Which is silly, but it's exactly what you'd expect out of a bureaucratic, government run agency."

Senate leaders have publicly stated that all 41 Republican Senators would vote against the current reform bills. Coburn says fixing fraud needs to be a top priority, not buried in a bill that's too big to work.

"It's fairly presumptuous to say, that I as a Senator, can tell you what you and your family need. What we ought to do is have a market out there where you can buy whatever you want. And then be responsible and accountable for what you bought," said Coburn.

Coburn says he asked the President after Thursday's Health Care Summit to have another meeting to craft a brand new bill. He says that idea was later shot down by the White House.

The President says there's no time to wait for more debates. He says Americans without health insurance can't afford to wait any longer.

"I said at the end of Thursday's summit that I am eager and willing to move forward with members of both parties on health care if the other side is serious about coming together to resolve our differences and get this done," said President Obama.

The White House says just because the President wants to move quickly doesn't mean it isn't willing to compromise.

Listen To Coburn's Radio Address