Health Care

Floor Speech

HEALTH CARE -- (Senate - April 16, 2008)

Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel and Dr. Victor Fuchs, physicians and distinguished scholars, have recently written a particularly important article that I wish to bring to the attention of the Senate.

These two gentlemen have a long and impressive track record on the issue of reforming our Nation's broken health system, and their recent article in the Journal of American Medicine (JAMA), ``Who Really Pays for Health Care? The Myth of Shared Responsibility,'' is one that every Senator should reflect on.

Drs. Emanuel and Fuchs assert in their article that when millions of Americans say that financing health care is a ``shared responsibility'' between ``employers, government, and individuals'' they are incorrect. The authors say there is actually no such thing as ``shared responsibility''--health costs in America come out of the hides of individuals and households. Emanuel-Fuchs point out, for example, that money employers spend on health care for their workers would otherwise go to workers' salaries and that Government cannot secure funds at all without reaching into our wallets for tax payments or money we lend to them.

The work of these two scholars is particularly relevant because recent public opinion polls show significant numbers of Americans would be content ``to just keep the health care they have.'' This seems understandable. If you are not a regular reader of JAMA, you are likely to miss Dr. Emanuel and Dr. Fuchs describe how your take-home pay is going to keep going down without health reform that makes health care more affordable.

If Americans are kept in the dark about how much of the money spent on employer-based health care produces little value, naturally, during these times of economic uncertainty, many will be glad to just keep the care they have got.

Senator Bennett and I, along with six other Democrats and six other Republicans, believe it is time to modernize the employer-employee relationship in health care. If employers choose to offer health coverage in the future, and workers know how much money they are spending and can choose between the employer's health coverage and private sector alternatives, we are fine with that. Workers should, however, have the opportunity as Dr. Emanuel and Dr. Fuchs put it to ``consider alternatives''. Americans can get more value from the 2.3 trillion dollars being spent this year on their health care, and this article is an important part of the discussion as to how to bring that about.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the article by Drs. Emanuel and Fuchs be printed in the Record.

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