Pelosi: Democrats and America's Hospitals Can Work Together for Guaranteed, Affordable Coverage for All

Pelosi: Democrats and America's Hospitals Can Work Together for Guaranteed, Affordable Coverage for All

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke this morning at the American Hospital Association's annual membership meeting. She outlined the current challenges facing our nation's health care systems and the Democratic initiatives that will promote affordable health care coverage for all Americans. Below are Pelosi's remarks:

"Good morning. Thank you for that kind introduction, Cheryl Fama. Thank you for your leadership at St. Francis Hospital in San Francisco. San Francisco and particularly the people of the Tenderloin and Nob Hill are fortunate to have your leadership and the compassionate care of St. Francis Hospital. And let me say a word about Duane Dauner. Duane is the CEO of the California Hospital Association and I want all of you to know the high esteem in which he is held by Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. He is a great advocate, leader, and we all appreciate his work.

"Hospitals are our nation's leading healing places; they are also our first line of defense in a national crisis. Look no further than your role in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When our bipartisan Congressional delegation visited the Gulf Coast in March, so many of the workers and patients at the clinics told us that their care wouldn't be possible without the auspices of the area hospitals. This was my experience also when I visited Houston, just days after the storm. We were told that care for the evacuees was not possible without the hospitals. It wasn't just your auspices; it is that you were open through the storm and all the days after; it is that your staffs and your management stayed to serve, working through their fatigue and their own grief, despite often not knowing what had happened to their own homes and families; it is your consistency in the face of destruction and chaos that gave so many people hope. Everyone in America is grateful to you for that.

"You did your best in a natural disaster that was compounded by a man-made disaster. And still today, nearly eight months later, clinicians are operating in tents and trailers. There have been bureaucratic delays in getting reconstruction of hospitals started - Charity Hospital in New Orleans is still operating out of a tent. Bipartisan bills that would have given medical coverage to all those impacted by the hurricane were blocked by the Bush Administration. We can't have that. The role of government and your hospitals should be one of partnership - working hand in hand to increase access and quality of health care for all Americans.

"Thank you for your theme today: insuring all Americans. What a great theme and vision, but we are facing significant challenges to this mission. No one knows them better than you. The number of uninsured has increased by 6 million people since President Bush took office and employer coverage is eroding. Medicare faces privatization efforts - nothing less than an attempt to unravel Medicare and break its fundamental promise. Both Medicare and Medicaid are woefully underfunded.

"Democrats have a different vision for America. I come here today because I believe that Democrats and America's hospitals can work together for guaranteed, affordable coverage for every American. Democrats intend to achieve this goal within five years, so the world's wealthiest nation in the world can also be the world's healthiest.

"The challenge facing Medicare must be addressed in a bipartisan way. Not by a commission, but by Congress - those accountable to the public. A Congressional bipartisan task force to address the challenges of Medicare would work closely with the executive branch to get to the answer. In the interim, we must have a budget that does not starve Medicare and Medicaid for America's poorest children, while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest in our country.

"We can't move our country forward with a health care system that is stuck in the past. The cost of health insurance is having a serious impact on our economy and our global competitiveness. The price of employer-based care, too expensive for many small businesses is making us less competitive. That is why Democrats have introduced plans that would lower costs and expand affordable coverage for small businesses, by creating a 50 percent tax credit to help small businesses and the self employed with the costs of health coverage. Democrats also propose insuring all children. That is the easiest thing to do and we really have a moral obligation to do so, along with enabling uninsured 55 to 64 year-old retirees to join Medicare.

"For both big businesses and small businesses we must bring down the cost of health care. The price of prescription drugs is the fastest growing part of health care costs. As we have seen so successfully employed at the VA, bulk purchasing of prescription drugs has the power to reduce prices for both businesses and the consumer.

"That is why it is so wrong that the Medicare prescription drug benefit explicitly prohibits the Secretary of Health and Human Services from negotiating prescription drug prices. In the very first week of the new Congress, Democrats will pass legislation to give the Secretary the authority to negotiate for lower prices. Another problem with the bill is that it is confusing to seniors and that's why Democrats insist that the Congress extend the deadline for Medicare Part D by six months so seniors do not have to pay a Bush Prescription Drug Tax now.

"There are real opportunities for solutions to reach our goal of making health care more affordable and accessible. Health technology can mean better care, lower costs, less hassle, and fewer mistakes. As you know, using bar codes to dispense medication can save lives, and having access to medical records can stop the needless duplication of tests and paperwork. In my state of California, Kaiser Permanente has undertaken a huge investment in electronic records. Patients can review relevant parts of their medical records and doctors have instant access to patients' medical histories. Democrats have legislation that will fund, standardize, and protect privacy with these investments in Health IT.

"Democrats overwhelmingly support investments in the miraculous healing potential of stem cell research. We must overturn the presidentially-imposed federal ban on stem cell research and increase our investments in stem cell research and other potential cures at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). I served on the Labor HHS Committee until I became Democratic Leader, and the NIH and all of you have the biblical power to cure. Where we have a scientific opportunity, we have the moral responsibility to make the investments. Every family in America is just one phone call, one diagnosis away from that power to cure.

"Another step toward a more affordable health care system is to better manage the vast amount of health expenditures incurred by chronic care. With your assistance, working together, we need to reorient our priorities to promote prevention. You know the statistic - 20 percent of the population consumes 80 percent of the medical care dollar because of catastrophic expense and chronic diseases, such as diabetes. Much of that cost is preventable through better nutrition and exercise. We must invest in public health campaigns and provide incentives that encourage Americans to take action before they get sick. Prevention makes people healthier and saves dollars.

"As we work toward solutions, I urge you to enlist the talents of your workforce, to see your workforce as the key to improving patient outcomes and patient satisfaction, and to work with labor unions to establish a new era and new model of labor management relations.

"I know the President was here yesterday trumpeting Health Savings Accounts (HSA). While he tries to sell them as good health care, in reality they are bad medicine. Democrats believe that HSAs are a continuing effort on the part of the Bush Administration to leave more Americans to fend for themselves. They are not consumer driven; they entice employers to restrict or drop altogether the health benefits they provide to their employees altogether.

"And when the President was here yesterday, he also championed price transparency, as if it were a panacea for all the problems in the health care system. Democrats know better. We recognize your expertise. We know that the same procedure on different people can incur different costs, and that a simple price is not an indicator of what a patient needs or the quality of the care. That is why we want to work with you to ensure your concerns are taken into account if President Bush sends this legislation to Congress.

"What is before Congress right now is the federal budget. A budget is about choices and we need to make the right choices. Our federal budget should be a roadmap to good personal health and good fiscal health for our nation. Sadly, the Republican budget is neither. Under President Bush, we have seen the largest fiscal turnaround in our nation's history. I bring this up because this is critical to the priorities and the funding that affect you directly.

"Under the Clinton budget, we would have been debt free as a nation by 2008. No debt, no debt service, no interest on the debt. Instead, Congress just raised the debt ceiling to $9 trillion. In the last four years of the Clinton budget, we were operating in surpluses - President Clinton left President Bush a projected $5.6 trillion surplus. In just five years, President Bush and the Republican Congress have turned that record surplus into a record deficit of nearly $3.3 trillion - a $9 trillion swing in the wrong direction.

"The Medicare Trustees report released yesterday demonstrates the funding challenges facing Medicare because of this budget. Under President Clinton, the date that the Hospital Insurance fund became insolvent was moved from 1999 to 2029. This report, however, indicates that the year Medicare runs short of money to pay hospital bills has gone in the wrong direction to 2018. This is a dramatic reversal, and the President still has nearly three years in office.

"The failure of the Bush Administration to control medical costs has also meant that Medicare premiums are going up at an unprecedented rate. Yesterday's reports project that over the eight years President Bush is in office, they will increase by four times as much as they did in the years of the Clinton Administration. This is especially painful at a time of skyrocketing gas prices. Seniors will also have to pay much more out of their social security for their Medicare premiums.

"Much of that turnaround was due to cutting taxes - primarily for the wealthy few in our country - and that has a direct impact on Medicare and Medicaid. The Bush tax cuts that have gone to the wealthiest Americans are enough to fund Medicare hospital insurance for the next 75 years. Instead, to help make up for lost tax revenue, the Bush Administration is now unconscionably cutting Medicare by $140 billion over the next 10 years and slashing funding for Medicaid by $40 billion, in addition to the $50 billion of cuts last year.

"These cuts affect the health of the American people and your bottom line. As you well know, Medicare and Medicaid don't even pay you your fair share now. Hospitals get considerably less reimbursement from these initiatives compared to private insurance. And for the doctors who practice in your communities, the President will cut their reimbursements by 4 to 5 percent per year for the next several years.

"That is why I am proud to say that every House Democrat voted ‘no' on the Republican budget. A budget which: cuts coverage for low-income children under Medicaid; preserves already too-high HMO payments, making it harder for fee-for-service providers to compete; and cuts funding for NIH and CDC.

"Our work in Washington directly influences your ability to do your job. It is essential that you make your views known, and I challenge you to get engaged in the budget debate and tax fights. I know that you are going to Capitol Hill today, and you have to be engaged in this battle over the budget. Democrats are committed to working with you to ensure guaranteed, affordable health care for all Americans. Democrats appreciate your valuable contributions to make Americans healthier, and our country stronger.

"Thank you for your leadership and the opportunity to share some thoughts with you today."

http://democraticleader.house.gov/press/articles.cfm?pressReleaseID=1535