Vowing to Repeal Obama Laws, Marco Rubio Focuses on Health Care

On Wednesday, at a meeting in Orlando with the Florida Medical Association, former House Speaker Marco Rubio --the likely Republican nominee in the U.S. Senate election --touched on health care, offering 10 proposals to strike back against new federal health-care laws backed by President Barack Obama, which Rubio promised to repeal.

We need to repeal and replace the presidents massive government health-care program with common-sense reforms that will lower health-care costs and get more Floridians insured, said Rubio. What American health care needs today are reforms that promote competition, empower patients with more high-quality health care options, combat fraud and integrate the latest technologies to make the system more efficient and the patient better informed. The last thing Americans need is another Washington big government solution.

Rubio backed a number of proposals, including giving individuals the right to participate in health-care programs in other states; encouraging small businesses to join association health plans; encouraging the use of more electronic medical records; backing tax breaks for individuals buying their own health-care insurance; increasing the number of community health centers; and pushing tort reform to lower medical malpractice costs.