Senator wants to hear from you

To the editor:

I write to thank my fellow Alaskans, and in particular the nearly 600 Mat-Su residents, who joined me last week to talk about the health care bills before Congress.

I appreciated the opportunity to share my concerns about the fiscal impact of a $1 trillion health care reform bill that does little to improve access to doctors and fails to reduce the trillions already being spent on health care costs. Most of you were quite concerned about a government takeover of health care and wanted to know why we can’t fix the problems with Medicare and the VA health system before creating another health care bureaucracy through a federally run government health plan. Many of you submitted comment cards that focused on issues such as the need for tort reform as well as making health care more affordable. Your comments are invaluable to me and I hope you continue to contact my office to share your views.

As Alaskans, I know we were proud to see the civility and respect demonstrated at all four town hall events in August. This shows that Alaskans can be thoughtful and passionate about our positions, even if our views are different from one another.

I look forward to hearing your positions on health care reform. Please visit my Web site (murkowski.senate.gov/public) or contact my Wasilla office to share your thoughts with me.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski