Health Care

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Nothing is more important to the future of this country than making sure Americans have access to affordable health care. With more than 41 million uninsured Americans, exploding health care costs, and an aging generation of baby boomers, we have many health care challenges to address in the coming sessions of Congress.

Over the past few years, I have worked tirelessly to pass a simplified Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit that will lower the price of prescription drugs for America's seniors and individuals with disabilities. I was disappointed when Congress gave the pharmaceutical and insurance companies complete control over the prescription drug benefit with the passage of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. The measure is not only overly complex, but will cost American taxpayers as much as $80 billion in subsidies to private companies. We can do better. I have introduced legislation to reform the benefit by creating a simple Medicare-administered prescription drug plan. My bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate for lower drug prices on behalf of all the seniors enrolled in the plan. This will cut seniors prescription drug bills by as much as 40% and save taxpayers billions of dollars a year that would have otherwise gone to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.

We must also work to preserve the health care safety-net for America's low-income individuals. Medicaid has served this function for more than forty years, providing medical care to low-income parents, children, seniors, and people with disabilities. Unfortunately, the current Administration and leaders in Congress passed the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 which significantly reduced funding for this critical program. According to the Congressional Budget Office, these cuts will force about 65,000 Medicaid beneficiaries out of the program by 2015, 60 percent of which will be children. An additional 13 million will face higher co-payments for medical services. Although the rising cost of health care has increased the cost of Medicaid, cutting people from the roles is not the solution. We must examine proposals to decrease the cost of health care, rather than jeopardizing the health of our most vulnerable citizens. This tactic is not only immoral, but also costly since more of our citizens will end up in the emergency room desperate for care.

In addition to cutting costs and expanding access to health care services, we need to improve the quality of health care delivery in America. We can do this by investing more resources in information technology thus improving coordination between providers in urban and rural communities. Technological advancements will ensure all Americans have the same health care opportunities no matter where they live. We must also continue to support the work of our community health centers, critical access hospitals, and area health education centers. Our rural and low-income communities depend on these institutions for critical safety-net health care delivery and education.

Congressional Research Service Reports

• Medicare: Enrollment in Prescription Drug Plans
• Medicaid Managed Care:An Overview and Key Issues for Congress
• Health Care Spending: Context and Policy

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