After
thorough and careful reading and review of the health care legislation the House
considered this evening I was not convinced that it was right for the people of
Most
people recognize that our health care system needs reform and since this reform
effort began I have talked with a great many 7th District Minnesotans
about what was needed. The clear consensus was that we needed to reduce
the cost of health care -- for individuals, families, employers and the
government – to expand coverage, and to fix the problems we have without
destroying the parts of the system that are working.
If
the bills we voted on tonight had measured up to these standards I would have
supported them, but they did not. In my judgment, while these bills
deliver some good things they miss the mark on the most important things and
will not deliver as promised.
This
legislation doesn’t control costs, doesn’t reform Medicare, and only covers
37% of the uninsured in the 7th District as opposed to an average of
68% nationwide. Some districts will see coverage expanded to cover as much
as 92% of the uninsured and Minnesotans will be paying for that while leaving 63%
of our 7th District residents without coverage. This is very
similar to the way the Medicare geographic disparities problem was created back
in 1982. The geographic payment disparity encourages cost-shifting and
rewards low quality / high cost health care providers in other states while
forcing
That
said, there are some good things in this legislation. It will end
pre-existing condition exclusions for children within six months of enactment
and do the same thing for adults when the “exchange” marketplaces are
operative in 2014 – if they work as proponents claim they will, which is
doubtful. It will allow children to stay on their parents’ health care
plans until age 26, and it will end the practice of rescinding coverage when you
get sick.
However,
this legislation avoided making the critical reforms we really need in order to
strengthen our rural health care system and by doing so it punts these problems
into the future where it’s likely that they’ll be even more difficult and
more expensive to solve.
As
the Administration begins putting these reforms in place I will continue working
to fix the problems I’ve mentioned and to ensure that everyone in the 7th
District has access to affordable health care. I will work to hold the
Administration accountable and I will keep working to make the changes we need
in order for these new policies and health care delivery systems to be workable
in rural areas.
Throughout
my service in Congress I’ve made it a point to study each issue and each piece
of legislation and cast my votes according to what makes the most sense for the
people of the 7th District. That is what I’ve done again this
evening.
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