As a primary care doctor for working families, I am interested in anything that can tangibly address my patients' health problems. But how do I prescribe Repeal?

The upcoming House effort to repeal and replace last year's health care law is not just an untested placebo with major potential side effects, like increasing the number of Americans without health coverage. For those of us on the frontlines of health care, it's opportunity lost. Instead of repeal and replace, my patients would be better served if our legislators pursued other more effective remedies.

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Beyond securing improvements in access and coverage, lawmakers have the opportunity to help Americans address the primary factors that shape their health. The cumulative research of the last thirty years has unequivocally demonstrated that where we live, work, learn, eat and play has more of an impact on health than the health care we receive. Yet, outside the exam room, communities face an anemic prevention infrastructure, a segregation of civic and economic opportunity, and unhealthy social conditions that lead to costly health disparities. These disparities were recently described in detail in a national report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies calculated that, over a four year period, these health disparities cost the nation $1.24 trillion, which is roughly equivalent to last year's federal deficit.

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