Replacement far from ‘patient-centered’

U.S. Rep. Pat Tiberi praises the GOP’s proposed American Health Care Act as “patientcentered” (Dispatch article, Wednesday). A closer look at the legislation tells a different story. This law unnecessarily restricts which health-care providers a patient may choose. One provision is written specifically to prohibit women from seeking care at Planned Parenthood, even when their needs have nothing to do with abortion.

Many American women use Planned Parenthood for a variety of services including prenatal and postnatal care, testing and screening, and education. For some women it is their only practical option, but for whatever reason, Tiberi believes that he has the right to deny them access to their preferred provider. This perverse understanding of “patient-centered” health care is nothing new.

In 2014, Tiberi praised the Supreme Court decision in the Hobby Lobby case. That ruling took away health-care choices from the employees who earn the benefit by their hard work. Before, the current Affordable Care Act guaranteed levels of coverage that individuals can exercise according to their personal needs, but, according to Tiberi, those matters are best left to the whims of the employer who are allowed to intrude in the doctor/patient relationship.

A truly conservative health-care law would expand the options available to the individual. Tiberi and politicians like himself want to tell people which doctors they can see and what services they can choose.

Kermit Lancaster