Senators Take Input From Fmr. HHS Leaders For 2009 Health Reform
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) this week solicited ideas from former secretaries of health and human services Donna Shalala and Tommy Thompson as the Finance panel launched a series of hearings exploring opportunities for reforming American health care, according to a statement issued by the committee.
Baucus and other Finance members questioned Shalala and Thompson on steps lawmakers should take to help achieve comprehensive reform as early as 2009. At the hearing, Baucus stressed the importance of Democrats and Republicans working together to achieve universal coverage.
“Today we have to seize this new opportunity for health care reform,” says Baucus. “Clearly we have to have bipartisanship, we have to do something that is more than incremental, and we have to have universal coverage. We have an opportunity to agree on how to provide access to affordable, high-quality health care for all Americans.”
Both former secretaries agreed that bipartisanship and reducing costs would be keys to successful reform. Shalala, now the President of the University of Miami, emphasized the importance of developing a plan that all Americans can understand and can agree to support.
Secretary under President Bill Clinton, Shalala explains that while there is general consensus regarding problems in the health care system, having both agreement on the problem and consensus about the solution is the giant step needed to successfully implementing reform.
“We’ve got to be in this together,” says Shalala. “We’ve got to have the basic information in health care. There ought to be a limited number of elements and everybody’s got to be covered.”
Each of the candidates for president have outlined their ideas for healthcare reform, although the details of those plans vary considerably. One of those candidates, Democrats Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, or Rpublican John McCain, will be sworn in as president in 2009, as well.
Secretary earlier in the term of President Bush, Thompson stressed initiatives to reduce costs, such as increased focus on wellness and prevention, education about the importance of nutrition and fitness, improved long-term care of chronic illnesses, encouraging people to participate in smoking cessation programs, and reducing costs in Medicare. He also encouraged the Finance Committee to implement e-prescribing and electronic health care records.
“Right now, we have a disease system, we don’t have a wellness system,” says Thompson. “We have to change it, we have to transform it, and it’s going to take the leadership of the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate and the House. Health care has got to be reformed.”
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Baucus and other Finance members questioned Shalala and Thompson on steps lawmakers should take to help achieve comprehensive reform as early as 2009. At the hearing, Baucus stressed the importance of Democrats and Republicans working together to achieve universal coverage.
“Today we have to seize this new opportunity for health care reform,” says Baucus. “Clearly we have to have bipartisanship, we have to do something that is more than incremental, and we have to have universal coverage. We have an opportunity to agree on how to provide access to affordable, high-quality health care for all Americans.”
Both former secretaries agreed that bipartisanship and reducing costs would be keys to successful reform. Shalala, now the President of the University of Miami, emphasized the importance of developing a plan that all Americans can understand and can agree to support.
Secretary under President Bill Clinton, Shalala explains that while there is general consensus regarding problems in the health care system, having both agreement on the problem and consensus about the solution is the giant step needed to successfully implementing reform.
“We’ve got to be in this together,” says Shalala. “We’ve got to have the basic information in health care. There ought to be a limited number of elements and everybody’s got to be covered.”
Each of the candidates for president have outlined their ideas for healthcare reform, although the details of those plans vary considerably. One of those candidates, Democrats Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, or Rpublican John McCain, will be sworn in as president in 2009, as well.
Secretary earlier in the term of President Bush, Thompson stressed initiatives to reduce costs, such as increased focus on wellness and prevention, education about the importance of nutrition and fitness, improved long-term care of chronic illnesses, encouraging people to participate in smoking cessation programs, and reducing costs in Medicare. He also encouraged the Finance Committee to implement e-prescribing and electronic health care records.
“Right now, we have a disease system, we don’t have a wellness system,” says Thompson. “We have to change it, we have to transform it, and it’s going to take the leadership of the Senate Finance Committee, the Senate and the House. Health care has got to be reformed.”
Watch more breaking news now on our video feed:
Bookmark http://onthehillblog.blogspot.com/ and drop back in for more news from the nation's capital.
Labels: Congress, Donna Shalala, health, healthcare, Max Baucus, reform, Senate Finance Committee, Tommy Thompson
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