Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

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Mrs. GILLIBRAND. Mr. President, right now we are engaged in a historic debate about the future of our health care system. The crisis has reached historic proportions, and Congress must act now.

In 2000, family health insurance purchased through an employer was approximately $6,700. In 2008, it nearly doubled to $12,600. If we do not act now, by 2016, family health insurance is expected to double again, to nearly $24,300.

We pay nearly twice the average of what other developed nations pay for health care: $2.2 trillion a year--more than 16 percent of our gross domestic product. However, the United States ranks 29th in the world in infant mortality.

We have more than 47 million uninsured Americans. In 2007 and 2008, 86.7 million Americans--1 out of every 3 Americans under 65--went without health insurance for some period of time.

There is a hidden tax in America's health care system that all insured Americans pay to cover the cost of emergency care for the uninsured. For more than half of the 47 million Americans who do not have insurance, the only care they receive is through the emergency room. In fact, that hidden tax costs about $1,100 per year for family insurance premiums and over $400 per year for individual insurance premiums.

Every day we fail to act, 14,000 Americans lose their health insurance. We must provide affordable, quality health insurance to every man, woman, and child in this country. But we also must take additional steps to contain costs and make sure our system is more efficient. The health care reform plans we are considering today will address a number of these issues.

First, health care providers will be rewarded for the quality of the care they provide, not just the quantity. Hospitals and clinics around the country will model the success at places such as Bassett Healthcare which is in Cooperstown, NY, and is one of the leading health care providers in terms of positive outcomes because of the quality of care. We will also employ new methods to reduce medical errors through accountability and through health care IT, and prevent costly illnesses through better care management, through diet, exercise, and preventing diseases, such as preventing childhood obesity.

Second, we will address the needless redtape and excessive administrative costs in our current health care system. Senate health insurance reform combats this problem by setting administrative standards that insurance companies must meet, and providing new tools to combat fraud. I would like to see a universal, one-page form that all people can use for reimbursements for all insurance companies that can be submitted on line. Changes like that could transform efficiencies in the market.

Finally, we will make use of health care technology that could reduce health care spending by $77 billion a year. Currently, just 1 in 25 American physicians utilizes fully functional electronic medical records. Senate health insurance reform expands the use of electronic prescribing, electronic health records, and electronic support for diagnosis and treatment options. Studies have shown that one out of every four tests is needlessly done because there is no record of that test. This must change.

We know our Nation's health care costs are steadily bankrupting our government and our citizens, and we owe it to every generation that comes after our own to act now.

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