Editor's note: Congress is in the process of tackling health care reform, a major issue that will have a substantial impact on millions of people. The Idaho Press-Tribune has asked all four members of the state's congressional delegation to submit guest opinions on how they think the issue should be resolved.

Everyone agrees that our health care system needs to be reformed. Health care in America is too expensive, and too many Idaho families are worried about losing or have already lost their health coverage. Businesses, small and large alike, are struggling to provide health insurance for their employees, and too many are being forced to ask employees to share the cost of higher premiums and co-payments in response.

The current healthcare debate focuses almost completely on how to reduce the number of uninsured in America. I agree — too many Americans who want health insurance can't afford to pay for the coverage.

However, we are focusing our energy on the wrong problem. As many people living in rural Idaho know first-hand, having health insurance does not guarantee access to health care. In many areas in Idaho, there is not even one full-time practicing physician. Thirty-five of the 44 counties in Idaho have federal designations as either medically underserved areas or have medically underserved populations. The lack of health providers throughout Idaho means that many of us have problems finding a doctor accepting patients, and for those Idahoans who rely on Medicare or Medicaid, finding a doctor who accepts their insurance presents an even greater challenge.

The health reform proposals in Congress are estimated to cost more than a trillion dollars but would do little to reduce the number of uninsured and even less to improve issues of access in states like Idaho.

Instead of creating another absurdly expensive government bureaucracy that would do little to improve our health system, we should be focused on measures that will make quality health care more affordable and accessible to everyone, regardless of where they choose to live or what pre-existing condition they may have.

As a health care provider, I have long supported initiatives to attract physicians to rural Idaho. Idaho ranks 49th out of 50 in the number of practicing physicians per capita. I am a strong advocate of programs that provide scholarship and loan reimbursement for medical and health professionals who practice in our rural and underserved areas where access to care is so limited. I have also supported legislation that would maintain our senior citizens' access to their physicians and health care providers by improving reimbursement rates to doctors who see Medicare and Medicaid patients.

While the U.S. offers the most advanced medical treatments and newest therapies for illnesses in the world, we are lagging behind in the areas of prevention and early treatment. As a country, we spend significantly more on health care on the last six months of life than we do on the first six.

Currently, the practice of healthcare is reaction-based rather than prevention-based. As a dentist, I have seen first-hand the benefits of prevention and early intervention. Instead of treating a victim of heart attack after it happens, we should be working with patients to lower their risk of heart attack. We should be focusing more on how to prevent disease or treat it early when it is most cost-effective and the outcomes are best.

Instead of trying to implement a new government-run bureaucracy, we should support measures that would allow those Americans who like their coverage to keep it and give all Americans the freedom to choose health plans that best meet their needs. We should be focusing on effective prevention, wellness and disease management programs, as well as developing new treatments and cures for diseases.

Instead of moving ahead with the current health reform proposals that would cost trillions of dollars without doing anything to address the real challenges facing health care, we should be working together to find a bipartisan solution that would make health care more affordable and improve access to quality care for all Americans.