Marty on the Issues

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Health Care

We live at a time of enormous technological, pharmaceutical and scientific advances in medicine, which are providing new tools for the early diagnosis and prevention of disease and even promise cures for the once incurable. Yet many Americans will not benefit from these advances, because they lack comprehensive health insurance. Moreover, patients are complaining about an increasingly impersonal health care delivery system . in which physician judgment takes a back seat to rigid insurance rules. Congressman Marty Meehan is working to put doctors back in charge of patient care and expand health care coverage.

Marty is fighting in Congress for the passage of a real Patients' Bill of Rights. He strongly supported the bipartisan Norwood-Dingell Patients' Bill of Rights, which passed the House on October 7, 1999. This legislation would put medical care back in the hands of healers, by giving covered patients the right to health services that their doctors consider medically necessary. It would also permit patients to hold HMO's accountable for negligent actions, including unreasonable denials of care. To hear from his constituents about their experiences with health plans, Marty hosted a town meeting in Billerica, Massachusetts in April of 2000 featuring a representative from the Massachusetts Medical Society.

Marty is also an original co-sponsor of legislation (H.R. 4770) to provide voluntary, affordable, and guaranteed prescription drug coverage for seniors through the Medicare program, so that seniors don't have to choose between putting food on the table and purchasing necessary medications. Thirteen million Medicare beneficiaries have no prescription drug coverage, and millions more are either at risk of losing coverage or have inadequate, expensive benefits. Furthermore, over the past two years, Marty commissioned two studies examining drug prices in the Merrimack Valley and MetroWest regions of Massachusetts. One study found that seniors in those regions typically pay 139 percent more for their medicines than the drug companies' "favored customers," including large insurance companies that can buy drugs in bulk at discount rates. The other study revealed that Fifth Congressional District residents who purchase their own drugs - such as seniors without prescription drug insurance - on average pay 171 percent more for their drugs than pet owners do for their animals. medications.

Despite strong public support for a real Patients' Bill of Rights and Medicare prescription drug coverage for seniors, both proposals are currently stalled in Congress. Indeed, the pharmaceutical companies and the HMO and health insurance industries which oppose these bills have donated millions of dollars in "soft money" contributions to the political parties. Marty's commitment to better health care for all Americans is one of the reasons he has led the fight in Congress for campaign finance reform (to learn more about Marty's fight for campaign finance reform, click here).

Massachusetts is home to cutting-edge hospitals with international reputations. These hospitals are currently facing financial challenges, as the cost of care continues to rise while patient needs remain great. Marty supports providing financial relief to hospitals by increasing the reimbursements they receive under Medicare and Medicaid programs. At the same time, he would strengthen the solvency of the Medicare by locking away a portion of on-budget surpluses at least as large as any surpluses in Part A of Medicare.

Marty strongly believes that all Americans should have access to health care coverage. He voted to create the Children's Health Insurance Program, which has already provided coverage to 67,852 previously uninsured Massachusetts children. Furthermore, Marty himself introduced legislation in the 106th Congress (H.R. 2774) to require federal employee health plans that offer obstetrical benefits also to provide coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of infertility. In honor of his work on infertility issues, the national infertility association RESOLVE presented Marty with its Infertility Awareness Leadership Award in September of 2000.

Marty joins Senator Edward Kennedy 

at Lowell's Smith-Baker Senior Center 

to discuss the need for prescription drug legislation for seniors.