August 04, 2010 — There wasn’t a better place to spend some quality time with my brothers than Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. It brought back childhood memories walking around the city where Chris, Nick, and I were born. As we walked past Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, our efforts to repeal and replace the health care reform bill were reaffirmed by remembering the great sacrifice our forefathers made to establish our great nation as The United States of America. Later at Valley Forge, I stood where soldiers of the American Revolution died from bitter cold temperatures and disease trying to protect our nation from the impending attack. It hit me how lucky we really are to be Americans, because without their unwavering commitment, there would be no USA. Even in the face of death, they stood for their principles. Their commitment pales in comparison to the Revere America tour, but illustrated that anything can be done with the right leadership, motivation and determination. The idea that we can create our own destiny was also brought up in the interview with Dr. Simeone, a retired Philadelphia neurosurgeon. He was one of the few doctors willing to get on camera and express his opinions about the health care reform bill and health care reform, mainly because he no longer practices. Being in neurosurgery, a high risk specialty in medical care, he understood the implications our justice system creates through frivolous medical malpractice lawsuits. Having been driven out of the medical field by ever increasing and extraordinarily high insurance premiums, Dr. Simeone doesn’t understand why the health care reform bill does not address this main issue. The concern on all doctors’ minds, tort reform, should have been the first step toward health care reform, but there wasn’t one word in the 2,700+ page bill passed. If they were so concerned about lowering costs, why wasn’t it even considered? The majority of doctors agree it would have drastically reduced defensive medical care costs, and furthermore lowered health insurance premiums. This is why we are collecting signatures to repeal and replace the health care reform bill.