JOHN HOCKENBERRY, for The Takeaway: Good morning everyone. Boy you could hear the agony of the health care reform debate again this week in the voices of lawmakers among the buzzwords this week, giving people a choice. Here’s Senators Charles Grassley, Jay Rockefeller and John Kerry. (tape of the senators talking)

HOCKENBERRY: What are the real choices for Americans being debated on Capitol Hill right now? Is it possible to know what the health care landscape for Americans is going to look like when reform, if reform actually passes. We can at least get a wish list from three people who are both lawmakers and doctors. Yesterday, we heard from Democratic lawmakers with a health care background. Today we’ve assembled a roundtable of Republicans. We’re joined once again by Congressman Charles Boustany, from Lousiana 7th District Southwestern Louisiana. He has 20 years of experience you recall as a cardiovascular surgeon. Congressman Michael Burgess is on the line. He serves the 26th District of Texas that covers the Fort Worth area. Before that, he practiced obstetrics and gynecology for over 20 years. We’re also joined by Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming. He’s been an orthopedic surgeon for nearly 25 years. Let me begin with you Senator Barrasso. If it’s possible even to say at this point, when Americans wake up the day after health reform passes, if it passes, what do you want the landscape to look like. For say someone who’s been putting off a procedure, who doesn’t have insurance, who’s scared their going to get bankrupt if they even go into a doctor’s office. What do you want that person to see the day after health reform passes?

SENATOR BARRASSO: I want them to see opportunity that they’re not going to see because this bill doesn’t actually affect health care for four years. It doesn’t start until after the next presidential election and the next inauguration. But the taxes start day one, so no, they’re not going to see a thing for four years. And what I’d like to see is for people to be able to buy insurance across state lines. I’d like them, if they buy their insurance individually to get the same tax advantages that companies get. I’d like to actually have a wellness program in place that would give that person an incentive to lose weight, get down their cholesterol, get down their blood sugar. I’d like to see that people in all the areas of health care aren’t worried about abusive lawsuits, which dries up the cost of care. And I’d like to see a lot of this wasted fraud and abuse removed from the system because it’s rampant right now.

HOCKENBERRY: Basically, what the headline there is you want to see something done now as opposed to waiting four years. Let’s get a read from Congressman Michael Burgess, again from the 26th District of Texas. What do you want to see for a person who has insurance, and is pretty happy with their coverage, the day after health reform passes, if it passes.

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: Clearly, you’d want to see no change, wouldn’t you? And I think Senator Barrasso is correct. There won’t be any change in benefits for four years. That’s what a lot of people are missing in this great debate. But, fundamentally, most of us who are physicians want the doctor and the patient to be left alone in the treatment room, the patient to be able to take the doctor’s advice or reject it. And as far as coverage is concerned, unfortunately, the argument does become a lot more about insurance then it does about medical care. But as far as the coverage is concerned, yeah, we want people to be able, people who want coverage, we think ought to be able to get coverage. Big problem right now with people with pre-existing conditions and insurance rescissions, let’s fix that, that’s insurance reform. That doesn’t take a trillion dollars. We could do that without breaking a sweat and have it done in the next couple of weeks. It’s telling that we won’t fix the problems that the American people told us over August that they want fixed. They want pre-existing conditions fixed. They want the concept of being, competition, yeah, Senator Kerry wants to give one other choice, we’d like to give thirteen hundred other choices to people who want a little competition and choice in their insurance market and right now, we prohibit that because of some of our arcane rules about selling insurance in certain markets. We can fix those things.

HOCKENBERRY: Congressman Michael Burgess, let’s hold on there for just a second. Let’s get another word from Congressman Charles Boustany, who serves Louisiana’s 7th District, that’s Southwestern Louisiana. Congressman Boustany, what is the landscape that you want changed for Americans who wake up the morning after health reform is passed, if it indeed is passed?

CONGRESSMAN BOUSTANY: John, I want Americans to have a wide-range of choices, insurance options in a very transparent way. Americans like to shop, they want to be able to make real cost comparisons and have real choices. And, if you have that, then you can drive the cost down.

HOCKENBERRY: Don’t we have that know?

CONGRESSMAN BOUSTANY: No, we don’t.

HOCKENBERRY: So how would it change?

CONGRESSMAN BOUSTANY: I think what you have to do is first of all, open up the insurance marketplace across state lines as Senator Barasso mentioned, I think it’s very important, it’s an important first step, it’s something that won’t cost the American taxpayer anymore. It won’t add to the deficit. Let’s create real competition, real choice and transparency. And also, what we want to do is make sure that the insurance that’s out there, really leads to a meaningful doctor-patient relationship which is the real focal point for high quality health care and the real focal point for keeping the cost down.

CELESTE HEADLEE, for The Takeaway: Congressman Burgess, I’m just wondering. You know, we’re talking a lot about keeping costs down and giving people a place to shop and marketplaces for insurance but how are we going to cover the uninsured and those who don’t have the funds and the means to go shop for insurance.

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: There are any number of things that could be done right now without turning the entire system on its head. Fixing the problem with people who want insurance and yet find that they are priced out of the market because of a medical diagnosis they already have. Keeping people from losing insurance which they have paid into over time and then their insurance company drops them when they get a tough medical diagnosis. We could fix those problems right away. There are always going to be people in the country who resist the purchase of insurance.

HEADLEE: Resist? What about the unemployed?

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: We can make the conditions more favorable by allowing policies to be sold that are within the economic reach of more individuals and for people who are unemployed or who cannot afford insurance policy. There are things we can do to stop punishing people in the tax code and make tax credits available to people for the purpose of insured.

HOCKENBERRY: But Congressman, how do you do that without a subsidy or without actually just offering the insurance though the government?

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: Well offering the insurance through the government is no solution because, let’s be honest, if that were the solution, it would have fixed the problem. We’ve already got 50 percent of health care expenditures right now coming through the government and no one would pretend that there aren’t problems with the public sector today. In fact, that is the problem (unclear word) the rest of the system alive right now. And the problems of the administrative pricing that are brought to us by having a heavy hand of the Federal government involved. These are things that again, was within the purview of the federal government to fix because we caused the problems in the first place.

HOCKENBERRY: Ok Congressman, hold on one second. I just want to re-identify all of you here because you are all on phone lines here. Congressman Michael Burgess from the 26th District of Texas, Congressman Charles Boustany, is from Louisiana’s 7th District and Senator John Barrasso is from Wyoming. All three Republicans, all three with a health care background. You know, we don’t have a whole lot of time here but it is a curious thing to me. How does your health care experience figure into the debate in Congress. I mean, I would think that all three of you as doctors are familiar with insurance companies intervening in the patient-doctor relationship. Senator Barrasso?

SENATOR BARRASSO: Absolutely, and I’ve been fighting both insurance companies and the government for 25 years. All in the interest of patients and patient care and I took care of anybody that showed up as an orthopedic surgeon. I have to tell you , I have town meetings all over Wyoming and no matter who I talk to, people are concerned that and especially people who depend on Medicare for their health care, they’re rightly suspicious when they hear that this is going to be paid for with $500 million in Medicare cuts. People believe they’re going to end up paying more and getting worse care. And those are the national numbers. And people are very concerned they’re gonna pay more and get less. That’s another American value.

HOCKENBERRY: Understood. Michael Burgess, how does you health care experience help you or hinder you or disqualify you in the health care reform debate?

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: Well, just like Senator Barrasso, I took care of patients who came to me in every possible circumstance. And, certainly took care of my share of people who could not pay or had no hope of paying. At the same time, I also recognize that there are problems rampant within the private sector. Again, we could fix those problems if we just simply had the political will to do so. But expanding the Federal role, the big problem and I know you don’t want to talk about cost, but we are cross-subsidizing the Federal component of health care with the private sector.

HOCKENBERRY: Understood.

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: You get a payer mix that’s more than 50 percent Medicare and Medicaid in your practice and its going to be very difficult to keep the doors open. We’ve heard that testimony from practicing physicians in our committee last year.

HOCKENBERRY: Thank you Michael Burgess and Charles Boustany, I’ll give you a last word here. How does your medical practice help or hinder you in this whole health care reform debate?

CONGRESSMAN BOUSTANY: First of all, having practiced for 20 years, I understand how all this works at the ground level, with a patient in a clinic or in a hospital. And that kind of perspective is very valuable because we understand what the unintended consequences are going to be with some of the things that are being proposed.

HOCKENBERRY: Alright Congressman, I gotta get three quick answers from you. I hear three “no” votes if the vote was held today. Charles Boustany, Congressman “no” vote on health reform?

CONGRESSMAN BOUSTANY: “No” vote on the current bill.

HOCKENBERRY: Ok fine, Congressman Michael Burgess? I hear a “no” vote.

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: We have no bill, sir.

HOCKENBERRY: Alright.

CONGRESSMAN BURGESS: The bill that I saw in committee? My vote was “no” in committee.

HOCKENBERRY: Alright, John Barrasso?

SENATOR BARRASSO: They still have hundreds of amendments to wade through, but as of this point, it’s a “no.”

HOCKENBERRY: Alright, John Barrasso, Senator of Wyoming, Congressman Michael Burgess, 26th District of Texas, Congressman Charles Boustany of Louisiana. All three Republicans, all three doctors, health care reform.