8 1 16 News Release

***NEWS RELEASE*** For Immediate Release August 1, 2016 CONTACT: Beth Harrison, Hamilton Strategies, 610.584.1096, ext. ...

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***NEWS RELEASE*** For Immediate Release August 1, 2016 CONTACT: Beth Harrison, Hamilton Strategies, 610.584.1096, ext. 104, [email protected], or Deborah Hamilton, 215.815.7716, 610.584.1096, ext. 102

Which Questions Should We Ask Presidential Candidates About Our Health Care? Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom Says Next President Must Commit to Health Care Where Patients and Doctors Are Free to Make the Best Decisions and Ethical Standards Are Upheld ST. PAUL, Minn.—Both Republicans and Democrats have had their respective weeks to communicate their ideas to better the nation and sell voters on the qualifications of their candidates. Now, as millions of voters make decisions that will help them choose at the polls exactly 100 days from now, there are certain questions they must ask themselves about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom (CCHF, www.cchfreedom.org) says among those queries should be what the presidential hopefuls will do about a failing health care system in America. “Now that the conventions are over, Americans from all walks of life—insured and uninsured, enrolled in government health care or not—must ask themselves which candidate is the most concerned about restoring affordability, excellence and a patient-centered focus to health care,” said Twila Brase, president and co-founder of CCHF. “We need a candidate who will bring back the ethical standards of health care—what health care used to be and should be.” Brase added that some health care-related questions for the candidates should be: • Will you repeal Obamacare? • Will you stop the growth of managed care? • Will you repeal the intrusive, unaffordable electronic health record (EHR) mandate? • Will you return freedom of choice by ending auto-enrollment into Medicare Advantage? • Will you allow seniors pay cash for the care that Medicare denies? At the RNC, talk of health care was mostly “missing in action,” Brase said. But by day two of the DNC, Sen. Bernie Sanders, former President Bill Clinton and former DNC chairman Howard Dean, M.D., had all championed the issue, bringing up Hillary Clinton’s failed health care overhaul attempt but also her success in advancing its initiatives, such as the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. Brase recently analyzed both conventions for CCHF readers in an eNews Commentary.

Unfortunately, the GOP made only short generalized statements about health care. Trump said he would “repeal and replace disastrous Obamacare. You will be able to choose your own doctor again,” while Ted Cruz mentioned the “freedom to choose your own doctor, without Obamacare.” Yet, despite being a $43 trillion unfunded liability, Medicare wasn’t a major topic of speakers. “Medicare impacts all Americans,” Brase wrote. “This Ponzi scheme led to the HMO Act of 1973, which merged the delivery and financing of patient care and centralized control nationwide through managed care corporations (health plans). It led to Medicare Advantage (HMOs for Medicare) and Obamacare (managed care for all) and the electronic health record (EHR) mandate to track patients and doctors and impose controls on patient care.” To restore affordability and patient-centered care, CCHF recently launched The Wedge of Health Freedom (www.JointheWedge.com), a new way of doing health care that puts patients and doctors in control and makes affordable pricing available to the insured, the uninsured and the subsidized. This summer, CCHF met with members of Congress and their staff about The Wedge. One congressional staffer told the organization that The Wedge is “revolutionary,” while another called it “deceptively simple.” Wedge-like practices are already operating nationwide, but CCHF is branding this affordable option as “The Wedge of Health Freedom” to draw the public’s attention to the patient-centered, freedomembracing slice of American health care that is mostly invisible to the public today. The online center for The Wedge, www.JointheWedge.com, allows doctors to join The Wedge, provides doctors with resources for escaping into The Wedge, and will soon give patients information on how to find these practices that incorporate the eight Wedge principles: transparent and affordable pricing, freedom of choice, true patient privacy, no government reporting, no outside interference, cash-based pricing, a protected patient-doctor relationship and all patients welcome. CCHF is a national patient-centered health freedom organization existing to protect health care choices, individualized patient care, and medical and genetic privacy rights. For more information about CCHF, visit its web site at www.cchfreedom.org, its Facebook page or its Twitter feed @CCHFreedom. For more about The Wedge of Health Freedom, visit www.JointheWedge.com, The Wedge Facebook page or follow The Wedge on Twitter @wedgeoffreedom.

CCHF president and co-founder Twila Brase, R.N., has been called one of the “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” and one of “Minnesota’s 100 Most Influential Health Care Leaders.” A public health nurse, Brase has been interviewed by CNN, Fox News, Minnesota Public Radio, NBC Nightly News, NBC’s Today Show, NPR, New York Public Radio, the Associated Press, Modern Healthcare, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Washington Times, among others. She is at the forefront of informing the public of crucial health issues, such as intrusive wellness and prevention initiatives in Obamacare, patient privacy, informed consent, the dangers of “evidence-based medicine” and the implications of state and federal health care reform ### For more information or to interview Twila Brase of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, contact Beth Harrison at 610-584-1096, ext. 104, [email protected] or Deborah Hamilton at 215-815-7716 or 610-584-1096, ext. 102.