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U.S.
Senator Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees |
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For Immediate
Release Tuesday, June 10, 2008 |
CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-228-3630 |
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| Sen. Salazar Continues to Fight to Reform Broken Health Care System
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the Senate Finance Committee held the third hearing in its series to examine reform of the American health care system. At this hearing, entitled “47 Million & Counting: Why the Health Care Marketplace is Broken,” witnesses testified on the challenges they face in obtaining, affording and offering health insurance coverage in the private market. With the cost of heath insurance skyrocketing and over 800,000 people uninsured in Colorado – 180,000 of them children – Senator Salazar will continue to fight to give Coloradans better access to affordable and quality health care. Below is Senator Salazar’s statement for the hearing: “Over the past few months, this Committee has embarked upon the path to health reform with a series of thoughtful hearings to identify the critical problems within our health care system. Not surprisingly, what we have heard in the course of this dialogue is that the forthcoming crisis in the American health care market is not the result of one flaw or problem. Indeed, it is the result of a number of factors that interact in a framework burdened by an unnecessary degree of complexity. It is no wonder that many Americans, even those who would consider themselves sophisticated consumers, find themselves searching tirelessly for affordable, high-quality care. “For far too many Americans- over 47 million- this search ended unsuccessfully. Let me repeat that number again- 47 million. This is a pool of people equal to the current population of California and Michigan combined. Or, to compare it to a population of particular relevance for this Committee, this is a population of people that exceeds the nearly 45 million people currently enrolled in the Medicare program. Staggering, isn’t it? It is even more concerning when you consider that nine million of these individuals are children. “In my home state of Colorado, 800,000 people- almost 20 percent of our population- do not have health insurance. And while we tend to focus on the uninsured when we discuss the shortcomings of America’s broken health care system, we know that this number is only a portion of the people who have difficulty accessing affordable health care. The other portion consists of those families who have managed to scrimp and save to pay their health insurance premiums but then find they cannot afford the deductibles and co-payments required to actually use the benefits under their plans. While it may be difficult to quantify the exact number of people who are underinsured, we must not forget that they are also the victims of rising health care costs. “Perhaps the most notable number that I have seen recently on Americans’ access to health care is the Department of Health and Human Services’ report that 19 percent of the U.S. population-nearly 40 million people- did not receive “needed services” in 2005 because they could not pay for them. This seems almost hard to believe until I go back to Colorado and once again hear the question that is asked of me most frequently- “What are you going to do to make sure my family can afford the health care it needs?” This is a question that we MUST address to solve what many have called the single most important fiscal challenge in our nation today. “In the current insurance market, individuals’ access to affordable health care coverage too often depends solely on their employment status. If they work full-time for a large employer, chances are good that they have some health care coverage option, although even these employers are being forced to drop coverage as costs escalate. If they are self-employed or employed by a small business, their chances for coverage become much more limited. This just doesn’t make sense, and it is creating a gap in our health care system that harms every one of us. “As I listen in the hearings held by this Committee to examine the long term stability of federal health care programs and reform of our overall health system, I come to a simple conclusion: access to affordable health care is a right that every American deserves, and our current system is falling far short of meeting Americans’ needs. “This Committee has taken an important first step as it sets out to identify the broken pieces of our current system and develop the concrete actions that we must take to fix them. I am committed to not only participating in this dialogue but to ensuring that it produces real results that connect hard-working families to the affordable, high-quality services they deserve. “Thank you to today’s
witnesses for joining us to tell us about their experiences in the health
care market. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on how can we can
fix our broken system. While the solution will certainly not be an easy
one, the time has come for us to roll up our sleeves and get to work.” ###
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