WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, issued the following statement today as part of an Health Subcommittee hearing on H.R. 3014, the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007:

“Thank you, Chairman Pallone, for holding this important hearing today on H.R. 3014, the ‘Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007.’ One of my primary concerns with H.R. 3014 is that it seems to focus almost exclusively on issues related to race and ethnicity despite the fact that discrepancies in health outcomes are much more closely tied to a person’s socioeconomic status than to his race or ethic background. Data certainly show that some diseases seem to follow racial lines, but they also show that it’s how rich or poor you are that makes the much greater difference in health outcomes. This bill’s prescription is a little like taking out a man’s appendix to fix his headache. I am thankful that Dr. Sally Satel and Congressman Jerry Moran have agreed to appear before us today to discuss these issues in greater detail.

“The bill before us also appears to waste limited financial resources by creating new programs that will duplicate government programs that already exist, and then to slather on even more layers of bureaucracy over at the Department of Health and Human Services because, after all, they don’t have enough bureaucracy at HHS now.

“A clear example is the fact that it creates separate offices of minority health within each organizational section of HHS when the Department of Health and Human Services already has an Office of Minority Health within the Office of the Secretary that essentially already does all of the activities outlined in this bill. So, if these activities are already taking place, I wonder how it could possibly be a good use of resources to create more of the same when so many other public health needs are currently going unfulfilled.

“A final concern that I would like to address this morning is the fact that this legislation will increase federal mandatory spending by well over $2 billion over the next 10 years; however, the legislation before us does not contain any spending offsets for this massive spending increase. No attempt at all was made to pay for the legislation. Clearly, this bill cannot even be considered on the floor of the House in its current form because it violates the ‘paygo’ budget rules of both the House and the Senate. This bill will have to be amended to cut over $2 billion in the Medicaid or Medicare program, which undoubtedly have a significant impact on those programs.

“As my colleagues are aware, there are some very serious challenges facing our health care system, and I hope that some of the suggestions our witnesses offer today will help the committee as we plan to move forward with a serious health care reform agenda. We need to continue to look for innovative, bipartisan solutions for the problems facing our health care system in order to strengthen and improve it for the benefit of all Americans.

“Congress needs to facilitate a process by which the states, the administration, and health care providers have an honest dialogue about how to best improve health care outcomes for all Americans.

“Thank you again, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back the balance of my time.”