I opposed the health care legislation package offered by the Majority in Congress because it will increase health care costs for Americans and bend the curve of health care spending in the wrong direction; it will create a new trillion dollar entitlement program, and does not realistically address how we will afford it; and it will impede economic growth, particularly in the Fifteenth Congressional district.
Health care is one of the most important issues facing American families, and it is a critical issue for the future of our country. For nearly one million Pennsylvanians who are currently uninsured and for millions of Pennsylvanians who do have coverage but are faced with increasing costs, we must make health insurance more accessible and affordable, and at the same time, improve the quality of care. Our country spends almost 2.5 trillion dollars a year on health care and it represents nearly 20% of our gross domestic product (GDP). Medicare and Medicaid are growing at an unsustainable rate and as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, our nation’s financial obligations will continue to rise. Addressing health care costs is vital to our nation’s long term economic health.
I have supported health care policies that will expand access to affordable health insurance, lower health care costs, strengthen the Medicare system, promote innovative research that will produce medical breakthroughs, and combat the devastating diseases of our time.
Expanding Access to Affordable Health Insurance
I believe comprehensive health care reform should provide all Americans with more choices to obtain affordable health insurance; ensure that patients maintain control over their health care decisions; reduce the cost and increase the quality of health care; and promote innovations and wellness initiatives that lead to cures. As we work to expand access to higher-quality, more affordable health care, we must take the opportunity to enact real reforms that will promote patient-centered care, ensure that health care dollars are spent on value and quality rather than quantity, provide incentives for prevention and wellness initiatives, advance cutting edge technologies and innovative treatments, and increase efficiencies to contain unsustainable health care spending.
Congress took a significant step in expanding access to health insurance by reauthorizing the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in February 2009. I strongly supported the effort to extend and improve SCHIP by investing an additional $32.8 billion over the next four and a half years to provide a total of 11 million low-income children, including four million kids who were eligible but not enrolled, with access to affordable health insurance coverage.
Lowering Health Care Costs
One of the major cost drivers in health care is the practice of defensive medicine -- when your doctor prescribes care or tests that you don’t need in order to defend against the threat of a lawsuit. According to a 2003 Department of Health and Human Services study, the cost of defensive medicine is as high as $126 billion a year. I support commonsense medical liability reforms that will increase patient safety, improve the quality of care, reduce the incidence of defensive medicine, preserve access to highly-skilled medical professionals, and ensure fair compensation for injured patients.
I have introduced a bill with my colleague Bart Gordon (TN-06) that would provide protections for emergency room doctors who provide lifesaving care. The high-risk of being sued and the increased professional liability costs for health care professionals providing emergency care has limited the availability of many emergency physicians and on-call specialists. The Health Care Safety Net Enhancement Act will encourage physicians and on-call specialists to continue their lifesaving work and ensure emergency medical care will be available when and where it is needed.
Strengthening Medicare
Due to advances in health care delivery and technology, an aging population, and overall increases in medical costs, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects Medicare costs will double over the next 10 years. Significant reforms to Medicare payment policies and targeted measures to combat fraud are needed to reign in spending.
One of the most serious problems with Medicare payment policy is the formula that determines physician payments, known as the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). The SGR was enacted in 1998 in an effort to limit the utilization of care and services. Under the formula, when utilization increases, physician payments are scheduled to decline. This has resulted in a situation where physicians are questioning whether they can participate in Medicare because they are only reimbursed for a fraction of what it costs to provide the services. Seniors will be the victims if physicians stop participating in Medicare. The physician payment policy must be reformed to ensure that seniors have access to physicians and to establish a system that pays for value and quality, rather than trying to contain costs by limiting utilization.
Another contributor to unsustainable Medicare spending is waste, fraud and abuse. Currently, each year taxpayers lose as much as $60 billion dollars due to Medicare fraud. Reducing payment errors to Medicare providers and activities to prevent, detect, investigate, and ultimately prosecute health care fraud and abuse are critical to containing cost increases in the administration of the Medicare program.
Promoting Innovative Research – Producing Medical Breakthroughs
I have been a staunch supporter of advancing medical research that will lead to the development of progressive new treatments and critical medical discoveries. Our nation’s commitment to robust scientific inquiry is important to the health of every American and also to the prosperity of our economy. As we have seen in the 15th District, life-science research injects growth into the economy, creates jobs, advances research and technology development, improves our educational infrastructure and supports university/industry partnerships which are crucial to preparing our students to be competitive in a global market. During my tenure in Congress, I have supported funding increases for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH’s 27 institutes and centers conduct research into the causes, treatments and cures for illnesses ranging from asthma to vertigo. I have advocated for the expansion of all forms of stem cell research -- adult, cord blood, amniotic, embryonic – which provide real hope that cures for some of the most vexing diseases of our time, like Parkinson’s, juvenile diabetes, cancer and spinal cord injuries, are possible. I was a leading proponent of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act which set meaningful ethical guidelines for stem cell research that will serve as the benchmark for scientific study throughout the world.
Combating Devastating Diseases
Every family in America is touched by illness or disease. I am moved by the stories I hear from families with children living with autism, a grandparent who suffers from Alzheimer’s, a parent who is afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS). In addition to working to increase advance medical research through the NIH, I have supported bills that ensure that public and private research, prevention and education initiatives with respect to specific diseases and illnesses are coordinated.
I have been active in advancing legislation aimed at the prevention and elimination of chronic viral hepatitis. In the 109th and 110th Congress, I introduced the National Hepatitis B Act with my colleague Rep. Mike Honda (CA-15). This Congress, we are working to introduce a bill that will promote prevention, education and research into hepatitis B and C, which impacts 1 in 12 people worldwide who are living with either chronic hepatitis B or chronic hepatitis C.
I have worked closely with the MPS (Mucopolysaccharidoses) community to draw awareness to MPS – a devastating genetic lysosomal storage disease caused by the body's inability to produce specific enzymes – and ensure that NIH research addresses the issues that challenge the medical field in understanding the causes and consequences of MPS.
Nearly 75,000 cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in Pennsylvania. Most of us have lost someone that we love to this deadly disease. While in Congress, I have supported bills to address breast, ovarian, cervical, gynecologic, prostate, pancreatic, lung, colorectal, brain tumor and childhood cancers. An issue of personal significance to me and my family is the advancement of melanoma research. Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer, taking the lives of an estimated 8,000 Americans each year. In 2008, I advocated for funding through the Department of Defense Peer Reviewed Cancer Research Program (PRCRP) to study the connection between melanoma and military deployments.
In 2008, the Simplifying and Updating National Standards to Encourage Testing of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Act of 2008, which I introduced with Rep. Mike Doyle (PA-14), was signed into law. This bill provides the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with flexibility to update its outdated HIV/AIDS testing policy in order to be consistent with current standards of practice. The VA health care system provides care for more than 23,000 patients infected with HIV/AIDS. An updated HIV/AIDS testing policy will facilitate early detection, improve the health of veterans living with these diseases and reduce HIV and AIDS related deaths.