Weekly Columns

When Obamacare was created, it was sold to the American people as a new plan to both lower health costs and expand access. Six years later, many Americans have faced and continue to face outrageous premiums and deductibles.

Every day, our nation faces new threats from enemies at home and abroad, and we rely on our government to identify and deter these threats before they come to fruition. How strongly we respond to these threats is up to our nation’s leaders - particularly our Commander in Chief. The past fifteen years have seen some of the most unbelievable acts of terror, and some of the biggest changes to our country’s national defense and foreign policy in modern history.

Our nation was founded on the idea that the government should serve the people, not the other way around. In order to establish and protect that principle, our Founding Fathers established a Constitution which established a government structure unlike the world had ever known. Their plan to have a government of three branches – legislative, judicial executive - has stood the test of time and has served as the foundation of our Republic. This system of checks and balances is intended to hold each branch accountable.

Since 2010, the health of America has been at the mercy of a flawed, disruptive system. The Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as "Obamacare," has created more problems than the solutions that it had promised. Too many Americans have suffered from skyrocketing healthcare costs - from rising premiums and deductibles, to outrageous hospital visit costs and home care costs. Moreover, the consequences of funding and logistics have been a nightmare for the American taxpayer.

One of the greatest aspirations we have in this nation is the concept of the “American Dream”. The idea that any person, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or religion can achieve prosperity, happiness and success has always been a bedrock principle of our national experience.

As the summer months begin, we are reminded once more that the fight against the Zika virus is not over. The fear of Zika breaching our shores has many Americans worried that partisan gridlock will prevent the government from taking the necessary steps to aggressively fight the potentially rapid spread of this horrible disease.

But Americans can rest assured, our top national health agencies, including the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes for Health (NIH), are on the front lines.

As Americans, our Constitution and Bill of Rights guarantee us certain unalienable rights that are the foundation of a free society. Common sense dictates, however, that individuals who perpetrate acts of terror against their fellow citizens must necessarily forfeit some of those rights.