Put Iowans First - Sept. 15, 2014

MILLER-MEEKS: I'm a doctor, and I think that, in and of itself, makes me different. I'm a military veteran, having served in the United States Army. And I really am a problem solver. But more than that, I remember where I came from and why it is that I'm doing what I'm doing. I'm the fourth of eight children. My father had finished high school and joined the Air Force. My mom had finished eighth grade. Neither my parents nor anyone in my family had gone to college. I wanted to become a doctor, and I set a course and a path. I left home at 16, got a job, worked, enlisted in the Army at age 18, was able to get a degree in nursing, a Master's in education, and become a physician. And that to me, that ability, to be able to transcend wherever you come from, whatever ZIP code you live in, whoever who your parents are, no matter where you live or where you come from, that ability to be able to set a goal, have a dream, and to achieve something. Set your course- that I think is worth every sacrifice that you can give.

Still we have a sluggish economy where young people aren't finding jobs, college graduates are having difficulty locating jobs and people are really struggling. And they see themselves struggling but Washington, D.C. grows bigger and fatter and richer all the time. We want a level playing field. We know we've got a lot of great people working together, putting forth their best effort, and they expect the same out of Washington, D.C. Iowans deserve better, and they deserve to Iowa put in Washington, D.C.

We can have a health care system that actually gives all of that, where we're all winners, so it can be affordable most importantly, can be portable that you take wherever you want, and it can be personal, where you choose what it is that you value in your health care plan. And it must preserve the doctor-patient relationship. With proper insurance oversight, tort reform and putting patients first, we can all be winners when it comes to health care. It's time to put Iowans first and put patients first and back in the driver's seat rather than a government bureaucrat.

It's really time to put Iowans first and look at how we budget in Washington, D.C. Get back to a balanced budget and not spend more than we take in, because we know you and I couldn't do that and we couldn't keep racking up debt on our credit card.

And when you remember where you come from and you know that you want to bring other people with you, you wanna them to find out what's their passion, what's their goal, what's their dream and set in place the ability for them to be able to do that, I think that sets me aside.