Issue Position - Reforming Health Care: Cutting Costs, Expanding Access & Improving Quality
Issue Position
Issue Position - Reforming Health Care: Cutting Costs, Expanding Access & Improving Quality
Amy fought for one of the first laws in the country guaranteeing new moms and their babies a minimum 48-hour hospital stay
When my daughter was born 10 years ago, she was very sick. She was sent to the newborn intensive care unit and had to be fed by machines. At the time, some HMOs were kicking new moms out of the hospital after just 24 hours. I had just given birth and was up all night while they performed emergency tests on our new baby. Then I was kicked out. As my husband wheeled me out, he said, "This wouldn't have happened to the head of the HMO." I said: "This wouldn't have happened to the wife of the head of the HMO." It wasn't right that any new mother should be treated that way. So, as a private citizen, I went to the State Capitol, I took on the HMOs and the insurance industry lobbyists and I fought to get one of the first laws in the country to guarantee minimum 48-hour hospital stays for new moms and their babies in Minnesota. And we won.
I believe every Minnesotan and every American should have access to quality, affordable health care. Minnesota already has one of the highest coverage rates in the nation, and there is much that the rest of the nation can learn from us. But Minnesotans also face higher health care costs than ever before health care costs have increased more than three and half times the average wage increase.
Many of our businesses, particularly small businesses, can no longer afford to bear the costs of health insurance even though they want to cover their employees. Employees are forced to pay a larger share of the premiums or they get no health care insurance at all. This leads to more and more uninsured people who are forced to seek basic care in emergency rooms, the most expensive place to receive care. This raises the bill for the rest of us. I've seen the direct impact of this because, as County Attorney, my office represents a Level One Trauma Center that serves as one of the largest hospitals in the state. Ultimately the taxpayers pay for this expensive care and it's one of the reasons I want to work to cut costs and move towards universal health care coverage.
Why has this happened? The debate on health care in Washington has been dominated by the drug companies and the insurance companies for way too long. When our health care policies are written for the insurance companies and the drug companies instead of America's families, we get things like Medicare Part D. Medicare Part D gave the prescription drug companies something like $90 billion a year in Christmas presents by banning the federal government from negotiating drug prices.
Health care policy in our country needs an overhaul. Too much money is spent on paper pushing, instead of care from doctors and nurses. We need to work together to find immediate solutions to reduce the cost of health care and provide health services to all Americans.
The priorities in Washington need to change.
As your U.S. Senator, here's what I'll fight for:
I will fight for policies that crack down on the price of health care. I will insist that our government negotiate lower prices with pharmaceutical companies. The administration and Congress made a big mistake in the prescription drug bill when they banned the federal government from negotiating with the big drug companies to get the best prices for our seniors. We should also aggressively fight health care fraud; push for a fair Medicare reimbursement system that doesn't leave Minnesota at the end of the line; and work to reduce administrative costs.
I will fight to expand health care coverage for more Minnesotans and Americans, with universal coverage as our goal. As a first step towards that goal, I will push the federal government to work with the states to make sure that all children are insured and have access to basic preventive care and immunizations.
I will fight to improve the quality of health care in America. In many ways, we already enjoy the very best quality of care in the world -- for those who have access and can afford it. But controlling health care costs doesn't mean we have to sacrifice quality. Along with excessive administrative costs, research indicates that as much as 30% of medical spending does not improve a patient's health or satisfaction. We should use new technology to make patient care better and less expensive through the use of electronic medical records and access to research data so health care providers have at their fingertips all the information they need to do their job. By measuring quality, carefully monitoring patient conditions and disseminating research data about best practices, we not only can cut costs, we should be able to improve treatments and avoid dangerous medical errors.
Here are some initiatives for cutting waste and making health care more affordable for Americans:
Allowing people to get the same kind of coverage as members of Congress
People in this country deserve the same kind of coverage that members of Congress get. As a start, we should provide incentives to allow small businesses and the self-employed to buy into the Federal Employees Health Benefits program (FEHB). This idea reduces the cost of health care by giving small businesses and the self employed the chance to pool their insurance risk. This will also be helpful for people who change jobs.
Reducing the cost of prescription drugs for Americans
Open the cap to negotiate lower drug prices
I will work to make sure that the government negotiates lower prices with pharmaceutical companies. The administration and Congress made a big mistake in the prescription drug bill when they banned the federal government from negotiating with the big drug companies to get the best prices for our seniors. It's time to open up the cap on prescription drug price negotiation.
Stop taxpayer subsidies for drug advertising
We need to stop wasting tax payer dollars by ending subsidies to the pharmaceutical industry in the form of tax breaks for money spent on advertising. Right now, pharmaceutical companies receive tax deductions for the costs of advertising and promotion. A 2001 study revealed that drug companies were spending $4 billion directly advertising to consumers, it's time to stop these companies from receiving giveaways from American taxpayers.
Increase competition to reduce prescription drug costs
Less than 300 miles away, Canadians are paying drastically lower prices for the same prescription drugs that Minnesotans buy at high prices. We need to allow individuals and wholesalers to safely re-import medications from other countries in order to encourage competition for medication sales in the U.S. and reduce the cost to consumers purchasing prescription drugs.
Stop shortchanging Minnesota's seniors
Everyone who earns a paycheck pays the federal Medicare payroll tax, and every Medicare beneficiary pays the same monthly Medicare Part B premium, whether they live in Florida, New York, California, or Minnesota. But seniors in Florida are being reimbursed at twice the rate as seniors in Minnesota. Minnesota seniors and health care providers receive Medicare reimbursement payments which are among the lowest in the entire nation. The system is inequitable and unjust. Medicare reimbursements are distributed through a funding formula that punishes beneficiaries, doctors, and hospitals in areas where health care costs are low and rewards areas with high health care costs resulting from overspending, overuse, and inefficiencies. In the U.S. Senate, I will work to reduce the disparities in the premiums that seniors pay and the benefits that they receive from one state to another.
Providing Affordable Health Care to Children
Today more than 45 million Americans are uninsured; 8 million of those are children. A recent report revealed that the number of Minnesota kids under the age of 6 without health insurance increased by 80% between 2001 and 2004. As a step toward universal coverage we must provide affordable health care to children.
Reducing the administrative costs of health care
In order to make health care more affordable we need to reduce the waste of administrative health care costs. Former Senator David Durenberger and the Minnesota Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs identified a number of steps to reduce the costs of care. With as much as 40% of our health care dollars being spent on paperwork and administration, the health care industry needs uniform standards for electronic billing, electronic medical records and reports. Another important part of reducing the cost of health care involves rewarding health care providers for value, not volume.
Increase savings, decrease errors, by advancing health technology
Along with excessive administrative costs, research indicates that as much as 30% of medical spending does not address a patient's health or satisfaction. A recent study by the Institute of Medicine revealed that 1.5 million Americans are injured or killed every year by medication errors at a direct cost of billions of dollars; the study recommends the computerization of prescribing and administering drugs. In order to reduce errors and administrative costs, we should use new technology to make patient care better and less expensive by utilizing electronic medical records and research data. The "smart card," electronic billing and electronic medical records are good examples of successful technology innovations that we should consider.
Allowing states to experiment to provide more affordable health care to all
We are fortunate to live in a state where we have one of the highest overall insurance coverage rates in the country. That's largely due to the success of Minnesota Care, which provides health care coverage to families who do not have access to health insurance. Minnesota Care came about because the federal government encouraged our experimentation through Medicaid waivers. Similarly, Arizona's KidsCare initiative insures children up to age 19 and their parents who qualify, as does Badgercare in neighboring Wisconsin. We need to explore greater experimentation in the states with health coverage, including the possibility of novel health insurance financing systems, like the one recently launched in Massachusetts. The federal government can do more to encourage these programs, and can remove unnecessary federal bureaucratic obstacles that are in states' way. This will help us gain invaluable knowledge about how to reform health care, and will give us a practical way to initiate the process.
Ending discrimination in mental health coverage
54 million Americans suffer from mental illnesses. Today HMOs continue to discriminate in providing the health coverage to individuals seeking treatment for mental illnesses. We must end the disparity in health coverage for Americans afflicted with mental health issues. Twenty three states, including Minnesota, have already taken steps to do so.
Four years after President Bush endorsed mental health parity and pledged to work with Congressional leaders to end restrictions from health providers for mental health related coverage, no progress has been made. It is time to end the unjust bias preventing coverage for Americans seeking mental health care by passing the Senator Paul Wellstone Mental Health Equitable Treatment Act of 2003 which would provide for equal coverage of mental health benefits with respect to health insurance coverage unless comparable limitations are imposed on medical and surgical benefits.
Cost savings - focusing on prevention
As the old saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Our current health system does not place enough emphasis on prevention and the result is very expensive. One example of this problem was identified by the Minnesota Citizens' Forum. The commission report found that many statewide health problems could be addressed by preventative work to reduce child obesity. Millions of dollars in health care costs incurred from secondary results of child and adult obesity could be saved by launching an aggressive campaign to end child obesity. A joint effort by state, local public health agencies, employers, schools, health care providers, health plan companies and other partners to discourage the marketing and sale of pop and junk food in schools, reinstate mandatory physical education and provide improved health education to students could help address the challenge of child obesity head-on.
Investing in science and cures and stem cell research
Coming from a state that is home to the Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota, I believe in science and the promise of stem cell research the pathway for the next generation of life-saving cures. I also support setting rules for how this research can be done.
By investing in cures and prevention we have the possibility of reducing the costs of millions of dollars in care. I support bi-partisan legislation, recently vetoed by President Bush, which allows stem cells that would otherwise be discarded to be used with the permission of donors under detailed guidelines from the Secretary of Health which will be required to report regularly to Congress.
Source