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This is the non-answer answer I received:
Thank you for contacting me about health care. I thought I would take this opportunity to update you on what’s been happening on this key issue in Congress.
Health care reform is a top priority for me in the Senate, and I have supported a number of important health care initiatives. During the past year, I have pushed to expand health care coverage for children through the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, increase federal funding for veterans’ health benefits, expand coverage for mental health services, and provide additional federal support for Critical Access Hospitals in rural Minnesota. I have also advocated for making prescription drugs more affordable for all Americans, from pushing for reimportation from Canada to investigating the practices of a boutique drug company that was engaging in price gouging on a drug for premature infants that has been on the market for 30 years.
I also believe that all Minnesotans must have access to groundbreaking technologies that reduce waste and seek out best health practices. As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which became law in February, 2009, investments in Health Information Technology were made to help reduce waste, reign in cost, and stimulate quality reforms for our health care system. The Recovery Act also provided a temporary increase in federal Medicaid funding in an effort to provide aid to states that have seen recent increases in unemployment and Medicaid enrollment. I led the fight in the Senate to make sure the Medicaid funding formula was good for our state. As a result, this legislation will help more than 20 million Americans keep their health care. Furthermore, I believe that the federal government must play a key role in supporting basic and clinical biomedical research, and the Recovery Act provided an additional $10 billion in biomedical research for the National Institutes of Health. More information about the Recovery Act can be found here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgibin/query/D?c111:8:./temp/~c111xp9wme::
Also this year, Congress passed the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, which extends health coverage to low-income children who do not qualify for Medicaid and whose families cannot afford private insurance. The passage of this legislation ensures health care for an additional 4.1 million uninsured children, and was signed into law on February 4, 2009. Additional information about this legislation can be found here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:5:./temp/~c111POvVxW::
You may also recall that the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act was enacted into law last summer, despite a Presidential veto. On July 15, 2008, the Senate voted to override President Bush’s veto and pass this legislation in a vote of 70-26 to prevent a 10.6 percent payment cut to doctors who treat Medicare beneficiaries.
Going forward, our state already has a track record of providing increased access to high quality health care, 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. In fact, many of our families and businesses can no longer afford to bear the costs of health insurance. Employees are forced to pay a larger share of the premiums, or they get no health care insurance at all. That is why I believe we must reform our health care system to make it more affordable. We must act to provide incentives to allow small businesses and the self-employed to buy into the Federal Employees Health Benefits program (FEHB). This will reduce 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.
As you know, this year we will be working on comprehensive health care reform. Without reforming the way our system delivers care, we will never be able to sufficiently reduce costs, maintain solvency, promote wellness and prevention, and provide quality care for all Americans. According to the Congressional Budget Office, nearly $700 billion a year in health care services delivered in the United States do not improve health outcomes. Our health care system is reactive; we need to make it proactive.
Many believe that comprehensive reform should start with our Medicare system. Medicare is the single largest purchaser of health care, and its policies directly affect nearly every health care provider. I am committed to sustaining Medicare as a healthy, high quality program that Americans deserve, and will work to address these challenges with the goal of reforming the Medicare program to reward efficient, high-quality care.
As it happens, doctors and hospitals in many regions of the country, including Minnesota, practice exactly this kind of high-quality, low-cost medicine, and they should be applauded for it. But Medicare does not reward them for it. The problem is that, despite periodic efforts at reform, Medicare pays for quantity, not quality. More tests and more surgeries mean more money – even if the extra tests and operations do nothing to improve a patient’s condition. And states that have historically delivered excessive procedures are still rewarded for the wasteful practices of the past, while efficient states such as Minnesota are punished.
I am very much aware of the positive impact that Medicare has on seniors’ quality of life. I keep that impact in mind when considering legislation, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to maintain the fundamental goal of providing a strong safety net to protect the health care of our nation’s seniors.
I will continue to fight for policy solutions to make our health care system more affordable, accessible and responsive. I appreciate your taking the time to get in touch with me, and hope you will not hesitate to contact me in the future about issues of concern to you.
Sincerely,
Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator
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