From: Hogan, Patrick <Patrick.Hogan@mail.house.gov>
Date: Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 3:26 PM
Subject: From the Inslee office
To: Chad Lupkes
Chad,
I understand that the monthly meeting is tonight. I have pasted below our notice regarding out town meetings that are coming up on the 29th and 30th. Please share this info at the meeting tonight. Below that, I have copied Jay's statement on health care reform. This may have gone out to you in mid-July but I wanted to remind people of Jay's support for reform -- including his support public option. I hope you could mention this tonight also.
All the best,
Patrick Hogan
Special Assistant
Congressman Jay Inslee
18560 1st Ave. NE, Suite E800
Shoreline, WA 98155-2150
206-361-0233 phone
206-361-3959 fax
Inslee to hold two health care town hall meetings
POULSBO, Wash. – U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee will hold two town-hall meetings in Washington's 1st Congressional District this August. He plans to host the hour and a half long public events to hear the views of his constituents and provide an update on the congressional response to the health care debate.
Inslee's first public forum will take place in Poulsbo on Saturday, August 29, during the August district work period. His other town hall will be held on Sunday, August 30 in Edmonds. Attendees are asked to RSVP via email to inslee.rsvp@mail.house.gov or by phone at 206-361-0233.
Poulsbo town-hall meeting
11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 North Kitsap High School The Gymnasium 1780 NE Hostmark St Poulsbo
Directions from Silverdale:
Take SR 305 in the direction of Poulsbo/Bainbridge Island Turn LEFT (East) onto NE Hostmark St North Kitsap High School will be on your left about a half mile up Hostmark
Directions from Bainbridge:
Take SR 305 in the direction of Poulsbo/SR-3 Turn RIGHT (East) onto NE Hostmark St North Kitsap High School will be on your left about a half mile up Hostmark
Edmonds town-hall meeting
1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 30, 2009 Edmonds-Woodway High School The Gymnasium 7600 212th St SW Edmonds
Directions from I-5N and I-5S:
Take Exit #179 220th Street SW
Head west (away from I-5) onto 220th Street SW
Continue west on 220th Street and cross Highway 99 Turn RIGHT onto 76th Avenue West Continue north on 76th School will be on the left
On Deck: Health Care Reform
July 15, 2009
The United States spent approximately $2.2 trillion on health care in 2007, or $7,421 per person - nearly twice the average of other developed nations. Americans spend more on health care than on housing or food. If rapid health cost growth persists, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2025, one out of every four dollars in our national economy will be tied up in the health system. The time for true health care reform is now, and as a supporter of a public option and delivery system reform, I believe we in Congress must seize this opportunity.
I am pleased to share with you that health care reform legislation which includes a public health insurance option is on its way to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. As a member of this committee, I will have the opportunity to participate in the markup of this historic legislation in the near future. As such, I would like to share with you my thoughts on what I believe should be our top priorities in health care reform. First, we must create a health care system that delivers quality patient care and services at an affordable cost. And, we have great examples of this already in our medical system at places like the Everett Clinic in Washington State, and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. One cornerstone of a system that provides quality care for all is the creation of a public insurance option that ensures consumer choice and access to care for all Americans. At the same time we must include strong delivery system reforms that improve cost containment in the system.
I support a public health insurance option as part of health care reform because I believe that it will guarantee competition and consumer choice. In 2008 the American Medical Association found that 94 percent of health insurance markets were not competitive, and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that wages had grown by 29 percent whereas the average insurance premiums had grown by 120 percent. Competition in the insurance market is greatly needed. A public option can help provide quality care at a more affordable cost. It also provides another layer of accountability for private insurance companies because they will need to remain competitive by keeping costs down and providing quality services. I believe that my constituents, and all Americans, should be able to choose the health insurance that works best for them and their family, so I support President Obama's approach that if your health insurance works for you, you can keep it.
As you know, there are those that favor a single payer option, those in favor of leaving the insurance markets alone, and everything in between. This is true of Americans and their representatives in Congress. Under the direction of President Obama the consensus has landed on a public health insurance option as the most viable way to ensure that everyone has health care coverage. The public option provides strong consumer choice that can compete in the insurance market and will drive delivery system reforms through cost containment measures, such as a physician feedback program, that I am working to include in this bill in order to lower costs and increase efficiencies.
It is my belief that we must be much more aggressive in this bill in implementing delivery system reforms to improve the effectiveness of current programs, notably Medicare and Medicaid, and take steps to dramatically bend the cost curve. I want to amend this bill to address cost containment issues which significantly affect providers and access to care in states like ours. Medicare currently reimburses based on the quantity, rather than the quality, of patient care, and has also resulted in significant geographic disparity in reimbursements. I am working with my colleagues to make sure that in these reforms we find a way to reward efficiencies instead of penalize them.
This has long been a problem in Washington state where doctors have found ways to bring down costs, but are not rewarded adequately due to the fee-for-service reimbursement model. As a result, it is possible that the regional inequities that exist in Medicare and hurt Washington state, could be incorporated into this new health care system. I am working to find ways to ameliorate this problem to ensure that Washington state is not penalized for our efficient health care system. Bundling of service payments, using a value or efficiency index, and creating a robust physician peer review program would realign payment policies to promote greater quality and significant cost-savings.
The draft proposal currently circulating in the House offers a tremendous opportunity to reprioritize and streamline the health care industry while also improving quality of care. You may be pleased to know that the draft health care legislation which is circulating in the House would include in the basic package, preventive services with no cost - sharing, dental and vision for children, mental health services, and it would cap the amount of money a person or family spends on covered services in a year. In addition, it would not only prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions, but also limit the ability of insurance companies to use factors like health status and gender to charge higher rates.
This proposal also calls for a Health Insurance Exchange program that will help individuals and small employers as they search for the health insurance option that best fits their needs. Additionally, the draft includes a public health insurance option that would include sliding scale affordability credits to assist those with low and moderate incomes. It would also create a small business health tax credit to make it easier for small businesses to cover their employees and assist in lowering premium costs for businesses.
The House proposal also seeks to fill the "donut hole" in Medicare Part D by providing an additional $500 in coverage in 2011, and increasing that amount over time in order to eliminate the "donut hole" within 15 years. This proposal also seeks to improve Medicare and Medicaid and prevent waste, fraud and abuse in the programs and would eliminate cost - sharing for preventive services.
Finally, I want to make sure that I get to hear from you about your concerns and hopes for this very important reform so please do not hesitate to respond to me with your views so that I may consider them as we markup this bill in committee. I would like to share with you the following summary of the House draft health reform proposal: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090619/healthcarereform_summary.pdf. Also, the entire text of the discussion draft is available here: http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_111/20090619/healthcarereform_discussiondraft.pdf. I look forward to hearing your feedback on this proposal and working with my colleagues to pass a public option bill.
Very Truly Yours,
Jay Inslee
Member of Congress
No comments:
Post a Comment