Price: Reform at juncture

Health care reform in the United States is at a crossroads, according to a Georgia congressman who is also a medical doctor.

U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-Roswell) said the government is at a point when it must determine the appropriate direction for reform to take.

Price, an orthopedic surgeon, visited the Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday to discuss health care proposals before Congress. Members of the north Fulton medical and health care community also attended and shared their views.

Price is the ranking Republican on the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee of the House Education and Labor Committee, which is considering how reform plans would affect workers. He said he scheduled the visit to “share something that is near and dear to my heart.”

Earlier in the day, President Barack Obama addressed the subject at a forum in Virginia, pushing his reform agenda. Congress will take up the issue again when it returns from a week’s recess on Monday.

In Roswell, Price said he disagrees with the “public option plan” before Congress. He believes the plan would move more than 116 million people from personal, private plans to a government mandated insurance plan.

Theja Wickersham, vice president of operations for Home Physician Care in Alpharetta, agreed with Price on the public option plan. She said she wants Congress to rid the country of extensive government involvement in health care.

Overall, Price said, he favors patient-centered reform that focuses on affordability, access, quality, choice, responsiveness and innovation. He feels that the government has a role in broadening accessibility by making health care affordable. He supports a “defined contribution system.”

The idea would allow employers to provide a set amount of money for their employees’ health care and the employees would manage their own care.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.