Health Care Reform For Seniors

Floor Speech

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Ms. MATSUI. Thank you very much, dear colleague, and I really appreciate being the cochair with you. We certainly have the passion for our senior citizens, and I believe that most of America understands that, too. But I rise today to recognize significant benefits that the emerging health care bill will have on American seniors.

Simply put, the health care bill will put forth, provides a better deal for America's seniors than our current system. Our health care plan takes great strides towards improving the quality of care our seniors receive.

For starters, our bill eliminates copayments and deductibles for preventative services under the Medicare program. This is crucially important because we know that many seniors are not getting the preventative care they need and are often foregoing tests because they're too worried about the costs.

The sad fact is one out of every five women over the age of 50 has not had a mammogram in 2 years. Also, more than a third of adults over the age of 50 have never had a colonoscopy. Without our bill's investments in primary care and its improved access to preventive care under Medicare, beneficiaries will continue to lose access. We are going to reverse this trend with the bill we pass this week.

Madam Speaker, we all know that preventative care is good for the health of individual patients and it's good for the overall health of our system, but without doctors to treat Medicare beneficiaries, the entire system structure, the systemic structure just collapses. That is why our legislation creates a more immediate pathway for more primary care doctors, the doctors that stay with you for a lifetime and know your medical history.

Primary care doctors are the backbone of Medicare and of our system in general, and our bill gives medical students incentives to go into primary care. These include grants for primary care training as well as incentives under Medicare for primary care doctors to practice in areas that currently have a shortage.

Right now, we know that we need many more primary care doctors in this country. The shortage is exacerbated by the high cost of education, which pushes more and more medical students into specialty fields and strains Medicare. Today, about 12 million Americans lack access to primary care doctors in their community, but by providing immediate support for primary care physicians, we can help minimize these shortages and restore the promise of Medicare.

Our bill also emphasizes coordinated care so that people can avoid unnecessary tests. It provides incentives for doctors to work together to provide seniors with high quality care that every American needs and deserves.

This bill is about strengthening Medicare for America's seniors and restoring the confidence that we have in our health care system. We know that we have the best doctors and hospitals in the world. In my hometown of Sacramento, we have models of care coordination and chronic disease management that are the envy of other cities across this country.

But when seniors, especially in Sacramento, are splitting pills because they can't afford to refill their prescriptions and skipping meals to make ends meet, this system is not working. And one of the surest ways to help us get back on track is to close the doughnut hole that affects millions of seniors every single day.

Between 2009 and 2010, monthly prices in the doughnut hole increased by 5 percent or more for half of the 10 most popular brand-name drugs. This means that brand-name drugs in the doughnut hole became more expensive relative to the medical care of other goods. And this is not just a recent phenomenon.

Between 2006 and 2010, prices for popular brand-name drugs in the doughnut hole went up more than 20 percent. This means that America's seniors are being forced to spend a greater percentage of their fixed, disposable income on brand-name drugs. This is why it is so important for us to pass the health insurance reform bill, which will start closing the doughnut hole this year and completely close it within 10 years

Madam Speaker, American seniors deserve more than the status quo. Our plan for health care reform will extend the solvency of Medicare, lower seniors' costs for prescription drugs by beginning to close the doughnut hole, improve the quality of seniors' care with better coordination among doctors, cover the cost of preventive care for Medicare patients, and expand home- and community-based services to keep people in their homes.

America's seniors deserve the best possible health care we can provide. And that's what our health care plan will do, ensure access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

Madam Speaker, I thank my wonderful colleague, and I yield back time to her.

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