[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16775-16776]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        SUPPORTING HEALTH REFORM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FORTNEY PETE STARK

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 25, 2009

  Mr. STARK. Madam Speaker, this past Sunday my colleague from 
Pennsylvania, Allyson Schwartz, addressed the issue of health reform in 
a guest editorial for the Philadelphia Inquirer. In her piece she laid 
out an indisputable case for why the current healthcare system has 
become unacceptable for Americans and what we must do to fix it. I 
encourage all of my colleagues to read the article and to work in the 
coming months to ensure that we enact affordable, quality health care 
for all.

             [From the Philadelphia Inquirer June 21, 2009]

                   Op-Ed Headline: Fixing health care

       Health-care reform is the number-one issue my constituents 
     raise with me, and a leading concern of business owners. For 
     Democrats in Congress, health-care reform is a moral and an 
     economic imperative.
       American families are facing inadequate health coverage, 
     mounting bills, and lack of access to care. They like their 
     doctors and appreciate the quality of care provided by their 
     hospitals. But, they have deep worries that their current 
     coverage may change suddenly and limit access to their doctor 
     or to needed benefits.
       Business owners are struggling to pay for health benefits 
     for their workers, forcing them to pass greater costs to 
     employees or drop coverage.
       Increasing costs for the federal government are neither 
     sustainable, nor producing the health outcomes they should. 
     Taxpayers pay 46 percent of our nation's $2.5 trillion 
     health-care costs. And, just as in the private market, costs 
     are skyrocketing. The share of our GDP devoted to health-care 
     spending has doubled in the last 20 years, threatening our 
     budget stability.
       The status quo is unacceptable and unsustainable. We must 
     do a better job to contain costs for families, businesses, 
     and the government, and to ensure meaningful, affordable 
     coverage for all Americans.
       Can we? I believe we can by keeping what works, fixing what 
     doesn't, and demanding quality care and greater value for our 
     dollar.
       In the first three months of this new administration, we 
     did more to strengthen health care than in the prior decade. 
     We expanded affordable health coverage to 11 million American 
     children, took major steps to modernize medicine through 
     health-information technology, invested significantly in 
     lifesaving medical research, and ensured that U.S. workers 
     and their families hurt hardest by this recession continue to 
     have access to health coverage when they lose a job.
       Building on these achievements, we can find a uniquely 
     American solution to cost, coverage, and quality. This is 
     essential if our businesses are to be economically 
     competitive, our people healthier, and our federal budget 
     balanced.
       Here's what we should do:
       First and foremost, we start with the acknowledgment that 
     health care is a shared responsibility. Every American will 
     be expected to get health coverage and employers will have to 
     provide coverage or help pay to cover the cost of the 
     uninsured.
       As President Obama has said, if you have coverage, and you 
     like it, you can keep it. This means work-based coverage for 
     most Americans, Medicare for seniors, Medicaid for our 
     poorest and sickest, and continued benefits for veterans.
       For the nearly 50 million uninsured Americans, many of whom 
     are working families, we will help you buy either private or 
     public coverage. While everyone will have to pay part of 
     their premiums, partial subsidies on a sliding scale will be 
     established and can be used to buy either private or public 
     insurance.
       To ensure affordable, meaningful coverage, we will change 
     the ground rules in the insurance market. Denying coverage or 
     charging more for preexisting conditions, health status, or 
     sex is going to stop. Insurers will have to simplify terms 
     and procedures. And, we expect insurers to pass those savings 
     along to their consumers.
       Next, we know that in order to control costs and improve 
     health-care outcomes, delivery of health services must be 
     more efficient, more accountable, and better coordinated. 
     Changes in Medicare and the new public-insurance option will 
     create choices for patients to find primary-care providers 
     and will mean better continuity of care for those with 
     chronic diseases. We will gather, analyze, and disseminate 
     information on best practices to doctors, nurses, and health 
     providers, and then expect them to use it. And, we must have 
     a renewed focus on primary care, encouraging future health-
     care providers to enter the field and working to ensure their 
     excellence.
       Third, we have to strengthen our commitment to innovation 
     and technology. Americans have always been scientists and 
     innovators, and we must keep investing in the next generation 
     of medicines, technologies, devices, and cures.
       Finally, without increased personal responsibility, 
     Americans will not be healthier. We must take greater 
     responsibility in the way we get health care and the way we 
     take care of ourselves. If we don't, we all pay the 
     consequences--from lost productivity, to the cost of 
     expensive care, to personal pain and suffering.
       Setting our nation toward a healthier, more economically 
     competitive future will take fair and responsible financial 
     investment. We are committed to covering the cost of health 
     reform. To do so, we will consider means that are 
     appropriate, fair, shared, and the least disruptive to 
     economic growth and financial security for our families. The 
     president has asked that those making under $250,000 not be 
     burdened by higher taxes. These are the parameters; the 
     decisions will be difficult, but ones that you have entrusted 
     to us.
       Much of the cost of health-care reform will come from 
     savings within the system. Reducing hospitalizations, 
     duplicative testing, and medical errors, ending the current 
     overpayments to private insurance companies that contract 
     with Medicare, and insisting on better prices for 
     prescription drugs for seniors will result in hundreds of 
     billions of dollars of savings.
       Besides the significant dollars that will come from savings 
     and new premiums paid by those currently uninsured, 
     stakeholders in health care, including insurance companies, 
     hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, medical-device 
     manufacturers, have committed to reducing costs by $2 
     trillion over 10 years. These savings should be passed along 
     to consumers.
       There will always be naysayers who say these decisions are 
     too hard, that health-care reform cannot be done, but I 
     believe that today even ``Harry and Louise,'' who helped stop 
     reform before, would tell us reform is a necessity. If our 
     businesses are to be economically competitive, our families 
     healthier, and our government fiscally sound, we must find a 
     uniquely American solution to our health-care challenges.
       The time to act is now.

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