Opinion

Congress needs more GOP doctors, like Alabama’s Chad Mathis

Rep. Andy Harris Congressman, Maryland 1st District
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I’m one of just 20 physicians currently serving in the House. A number of those, all Republicans, are leaving in 2014 to seek another office.

This comes at a time when Obamacare is hitting our health, livelihoods, and freedom with its fiscally insane takeover of the health care system. There’s no sugarcoating it; we’re facing a crisis in this country and it’s thanks to the failure of big government policies the Obama administration and their liberal allies have shoved down our throats.

We need more physicians in Congress. We need conservative voices who understand that the doctor-patient relationship is greater than the whims of unelected bureaucrats because they’ve actually seen it firsthand.

That’s why I’m proud to support my friend Dr. Chad Mathis.

He’s running for Alabama’s sixth congressional district, opened by Rep. Spencer Baucus’s retirement. The district is ruby red, so we’ve got no excuse to not pick a conservative who’ll fight the Obama administration’s mess tooth and nail.

Chad is a father, a physician, and a small businessman.

He’s practiced medicine for more than a decade. He spurred the creation of the Alabama Bone and Joint Clinic and is its managing partner. As both physician and businessman, he’s lived the consequences of Washington’s reckless spending and overreach. That’s why he’s rolling up the sleeves now, when we need more like him the most, to run for Congress.

Ask him about Obamacare and he’ll call it what it is – a disaster founded on broken promises. He’s actually read all 2,462 pages of the law, which is more than can be said for the Democrats who gave it to us in the first place.

Our health care system was broken and Obamacare only made it worse. When we get rid of Obamacare, we will need to implement patient-centered free market policies that will lower costs, increase access, and improve overall health. Chad has a plan to do just that.

I’m not alone in saying we need physicians like Chad to deal with the health care crisis facing our nation. Almost 100 individual Alabama physicians are supporting his campaign. They know he’s not going to Washington to play political insider games, but to act.

Proven conservative voices from all over the country support Chad, too. Ken Blackwell, Erick Erickson, FreedomWorks, and the Madison Project have all endorsed him.

So has one of my colleagues – Congressman Phil Roe, M.D. He’s put forward an alternative to Obamacare – one that repeals the law entirely, saves trillions over the next decade, and gets government out of decisions that are best when left to the physician and patient.

It’s imperative that we keep a strong Doctor Caucus at a time like this. We need conservative physicians in Washington who won’t just talk the talk when it comes to making the tough decisions and challenging Obamacare’s unchecked takeover of our health care system.

Government intrusion has created the crisis – reining it in and replacing it with free-market solutions that cut spending, improve quality, and protect life are what we have to do next.

The first step on that road is sending a conservative physician, like Dr. Chad Mathis, to Congress to stand with me and others in that fight. Please consider helping him today.

Rep. Andy Harris, M.D., represents Maryland’s first congressional district.