Health Care
Health Care
Making Medicare Reimbursement Rates Fair
One of my highest priorities in Congress is to fix the inequity in Medicare reimbursement rates for Washington state. Our doctors, hospitals and other key health care providers face Medicare payment shortfalls. Many hospitals are losing money and more and more doctors in Northwest Washington can no longer afford to treat Medicare patients or are leaving the state altogether.
In large part, this is because Washington state receives far below the national average in Medicare payments per patient. Because of a flawed, complex funding formula, the federal government provides fewer Medicare dollars for Washington state than it does for other states.
The Medicare prescription drug bill that recently became law actually dropped our state from 42nd to 45th out of 50 states in Medicare payments per beneficiary. This means that our physicians receive lower rates to treat seniors and disabled patients on Medicare. It also means, even though all seniors pay the same amount into Medicare, seniors who live in Washington state get less back. Even more unfair, one of the reasons we receive less is because our health care system is efficient and cost-effective.
This fight for equitable reimbursement rates is about fairness and continued access to high-quality health care. I have joined with my Washington state colleagues in reintroducing the MediFAIR Act (H.R. 2904). This legislation will increase Washington state's reimbursement rates to the national average, ensuring that our seniors are treated on par with seniors around the country. The bill will also require other states to become more efficient and cut waste in their health care systems. It will stop punishing Washington state's health care system and instead reward the efficiency and good health we have produced.
Another problem with Medicare's complex funding system is that it has historically penalized rural areas. Health care providers in rural areas get less money from Medicare for the very same procedure performed in urban areas. I am a cosponsor of legislation to correct this inequity so that rural hospitals will receive the same level of reimbursements as urban hospitals.
Helping Small Businesses and Working Families Afford Health Care
A recent survey of employers, conducted by Mercer Human Resource Consulting, found that total health benefit costs for employers rose 14.7% in 2002 - an average of $5,646 per employee. Small businesses were hit even harder with costs going up an average of 18%.
As health care costs continue to rise, fewer employers and working families will be able to afford coverage, and the number of uninsured will inevitably rise. This is particularly true in light of our struggling economy.
I support providing targeted tax credits for low-wage workers in small businesses. Specifically, I support legislation that provides a 50% tax credit benefit to employers with 10 or fewer employees as an additional incentive to purchase health care coverage. As the business grows, the employers would also qualify for a smaller tax credit for their additional workers. This proposal would make health care insurance more affordable for small businesses struggling to find coverage for their employees.
Helping Seniors Afford Prescription Drugs
Prescription drug prices continue to skyrocket and seniors are having a hard time paying for their prescriptions. According to Families USA, the prices of the prescription drugs most frequently used by seniors have risen faster than inflation for each year since 1995. In fact, costs for these drugs rose more than three times the rate of inflation in 2002.
I am committed to providing a comprehensive benefit under Medicare that is affordable and dependable for our seniors. I believe that a prescription drug benefit must be:
arrow Available to all - must provide coverage for all seniors and disabled Americans no matter where they live - rural or urban.
arrow Affordable - must have affordable premiums, a reasonable deductible and must significantly reduce the price of prescription drugs.
arrow Guaranteed - with real, guaranteed, defined benefits - and no huge gaps in coverage.
arrow Within the Medicare program - not a separate plan that forces seniors into private plans.
In August of 2003, I had the opportunity to hear from seniors first-hand at Prescription Drug Town Hall meetings in Bellingham, Everett, Mount Vernon, Oak Harbor and Friday Harbor. Seniors across our district gave a loud and clear message: Any prescription drug plan must make prescription drugs affordable and must remain part of the Medicare program that we all know and trust.
I have taken these views back to Washington, D.C., and continue to fight for a fair and affordable prescription drug benefit. Congress owes it to our seniors to produce a final bill that provides meaningful relief from the high costs of prescription drugs.
Unfortunately, in early December of 2003, Congress narrowly passed, and the president signed into law, a Medicare prescription drug bill that fails Washington's seniors. I voted against this new prescription drug bill, because the plan does not provide relief from the high costs of medicines, has huge gaps in coverage and jeopardizes the health benefits of Washington retirees. Not only does the bill prevent you from buying affordable drugs from Canada, it expressly prohibits Medicare from using the purchasing power of millions of seniors to negotiate for better drug prices.
Click here to read my statement about the bill. I have also prepared a Question and Answer sheet on the plan's major provisions PDF icon. Click to download Adobe Acrobat reader to view the pdf file. (Download Adobe Reader)
High Cost of Prescription Drugs
The new Medicare prescription drug bill did very little to help bring down the high cost of prescription drugs, so we must continue working to make prescription drugs more affordable for all Americans.
I support efforts to deliver generic drugs to the market in a more timely and cost-effective way. I also support legislation that would make it legal for Americans to purchase lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada.
On July 25, 2003, the House of Representatives approved H.R. 2427 the Pharmaceutical Market Access Act by a vote of 243 to 186 and is now awaiting Senate action. This bill would lower prescription drug costs by allowing the importation of medications with appropriate safeguards.
People from all over the world come to our country for first-class medical care, but Americans need to travel to Canada or other countries to get medications they can afford. To assure safety, H.R. 2427 ensures that the only drugs allowed would be FDA-approved drugs produced in FDA-approved facilities in other industrialized nations. Additionally, the imported drugs must be packaged and shipped using counterfeit-resistant technologies.
Americans currently subsidize the world's pharmaceutical purchases by paying higher prices while other industrialized nations pay significantly less for the same medicines. This legislation represents a first step in balancing this discrepancy.
I commissioned a study on prescription drug costs in our local communities from the Special Investigations Division of the House Government Reform Committee. The study showed that, for many drugs, our local seniors pay over three times as much as do seniors in Canada and other countries. To view this study, click here PDF icon. Click to download Adobe Acrobat reader to view the pdf file. (Download Adobe Reader).
Addressing the Nursing Shortage
Our state and the entire nation are struggling with a growing shortage of nurses that impacts patients in our hospitals, long-term care facilities and clinics. We are losing good nurses because of low wages and heavy workloads. I supported the landmark Nurse Reinvestment Act signed into law on August 1, 2002. This new law will shore up our nation's nurse workforce through grants, training programs and scholarships. Our remaining challenge is to ensure that it is adequately funded so it can be fully implemented.
Support for Life-Saving Research
I fully support efforts to double the research budget at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Groundbreaking research on diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and AIDS has been done at NIH or with NIH grants. I'll continue to work to make sure that critical medical research receives the support it needs from Congress.
http://www.house.gov/larsen/issue/healthcare.shtml