Thursday, February 26, 2009
Statement by Senator Tom Harkin
At the Hearing on the Use of Integrative Care to Keep People Healthy
“Good morning. This is the latest in an ongoing series of hearings that will guide us as we craft comprehensive health care reform legislation in the months ahead. In his speech to Congress Tuesday evening, President Obama made clear that he expects Congress to pass a bill this year, and we fully intend to take him up on that challenge.
“I thank our committee chair, Senator Kennedy, for giving the go-ahead for this hearing. Of course, we all look forward to his speedy return to the Senate.
“I am pleased to co-chair this morning’s hearing with Senator Mikulski. And I am eager to hear our distinguished witnesses’ ideas on using integrative care to keep people healthy, improve healthcare outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.
“It is fashionable, these days, to quote Abraham Lincoln. So I would like to quote from his 1862 address to Congress – words that should inspire us as we craft health care reform legislation. Lincoln said, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty . . . . As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”
“Clearly, the time has come to “think anew” and to “disenthrall ourselves” from the dogmas and biases that have made our current health care system – based overwhelmingly on conventional medicine – in so many ways wasteful and dysfunctional.
“It is time to end the discrimination against alternative health care practices.
“It is time for America’s health care system to emphasize coordination and continuity of care, patient-centeredness, and prevention.
“And it is time to adopt an integrative approach that takes advantage of the very best scientifically based medicines and therapies, whether conventional or alternative.
“This is about giving people the pragmatic alternatives they want, while ending discrimination against practitioners of scientifically based alternative health care. It is about improving health care outcomes. And, yes, it is about reducing health care costs. Generally speaking, alternative therapies are less expensive and less intrusive – and we need to take advantage of that.
“The United States currently spends more than any other nation on health care – 16.5 percent of GDP – yet we still experience poorer health than most other developed nations and even some developing countries. We need a paradigm shift that places a much greater emphasis on preventing disease and keeping people healthy rather than merely treating people once they become sick. Integrative care can help us achieve this goal.
“This has been a priority of mine going back many years. In 1992, at my urging, Congress passed legislation creating the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. In 1998, I sponsored legislation to elevate that Office to what, today, is the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. That Center is sponsoring extraordinarily important research. It is helping us to “think anew” and “act anew.”
“Since 1992 the field has evolved and matured. Today, we are not just talking about alternative practices but also the integration between conventional and alternative therapies in order to achieve truly integrative health. We need to have practitioners talking with each other, collaborating to treat the whole person. And this is the model we intend to build into our health care reform bill.
“On several occasions, I have laid down a public marker, saying that if we pass a bill that greatly extends health insurance coverage but does nothing to create a dramatically stronger prevention and public health infrastructure and agenda, then we will have failed the American people.
“Well, this morning, I want to lay down a second marker: If we fail to seize this unique opportunity to adopt a pragmatic, integrative approach to health care, then that, too, would constitute a serious failure. “
“I thank our committee chair, Senator Kennedy, for giving the go-ahead for this hearing. Of course, we all look forward to his speedy return to the Senate.
Senator Tom Harkin and Dr. Mehmet C. Oz, Director, Cardiovascular Institute and Complementary Medicine Program, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY and Founder and Chairman of Health Corps speak before a HELP Committee hearing on the role of Integrative Care.
“It is fashionable, these days, to quote Abraham Lincoln. So I would like to quote from his 1862 address to Congress – words that should inspire us as we craft health care reform legislation. Lincoln said, “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty . . . . As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”
“Clearly, the time has come to “think anew” and to “disenthrall ourselves” from the dogmas and biases that have made our current health care system – based overwhelmingly on conventional medicine – in so many ways wasteful and dysfunctional.
“It is time to end the discrimination against alternative health care practices.
“It is time for America’s health care system to emphasize coordination and continuity of care, patient-centeredness, and prevention.
“And it is time to adopt an integrative approach that takes advantage of the very best scientifically based medicines and therapies, whether conventional or alternative.
“This is about giving people the pragmatic alternatives they want, while ending discrimination against practitioners of scientifically based alternative health care. It is about improving health care outcomes. And, yes, it is about reducing health care costs. Generally speaking, alternative therapies are less expensive and less intrusive – and we need to take advantage of that.
“The United States currently spends more than any other nation on health care – 16.5 percent of GDP – yet we still experience poorer health than most other developed nations and even some developing countries. We need a paradigm shift that places a much greater emphasis on preventing disease and keeping people healthy rather than merely treating people once they become sick. Integrative care can help us achieve this goal.
“This has been a priority of mine going back many years. In 1992, at my urging, Congress passed legislation creating the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. In 1998, I sponsored legislation to elevate that Office to what, today, is the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. That Center is sponsoring extraordinarily important research. It is helping us to “think anew” and “act anew.”
“Since 1992 the field has evolved and matured. Today, we are not just talking about alternative practices but also the integration between conventional and alternative therapies in order to achieve truly integrative health. We need to have practitioners talking with each other, collaborating to treat the whole person. And this is the model we intend to build into our health care reform bill.
“On several occasions, I have laid down a public marker, saying that if we pass a bill that greatly extends health insurance coverage but does nothing to create a dramatically stronger prevention and public health infrastructure and agenda, then we will have failed the American people.
“Well, this morning, I want to lay down a second marker: If we fail to seize this unique opportunity to adopt a pragmatic, integrative approach to health care, then that, too, would constitute a serious failure. “
