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Health Care...
Our health care
system is broken and needs a complete overhaul. Provider fees,
prescription costs, and medical insurance premiums are too high.
Large medical institutions now control the market, and
administrative costs are not only too high, but outweigh any
advantage provided to the medical system.
Federal government
needs to enact the National Health Insurance Bill (H.B. 676). I
support its passage and implementation as soon as possible. There
are 47 million Americans without health coverage and millions more
are inadequately covered. This is because private insurance
bureaucracy and paperwork consume one-third (31 percent) of every
health care dollar. Streamlining payment through a single nonprofit
payer would save more than $350 billion per year, enough to provide
comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.
The Medicare
prescription drug benefit for seniors is complicated and is not
working. Too few seniors understand the law. It filled with
loopholes and exceptions, and a strange piece of financial
slight-of-hand called a “benefit gap” or “donut hole” in the middle.
That “benefit gap” provision means that for seniors who spend
anything under $5,000-$7,000 per year on prescription drugs,
Medicare covers only 20% of their costs. It doesn’t allow the
government to take rising drug prices, which far outpace inflation,
into account. As price hikes continue, seniors will be footing more
of the bill. Medicare D was written by pharmaceutical and insurance
corporations. Our seniors deserve better.
I support
expanding programs providing expanded neo-natal and child
healthcare, and meaningful physical education and health
education programs in schools. I would support programs that focus
on diet and nutrition designed to reduce obesity in children and
adults. I would support programs sponsored by employers that
encourage physical activity such as contributing to health club
memberships. And I support a healthcare system that pays for regular
physical check-ups that monitor individuals’ well-being.
I support the
public sector implementation of
an electronic health records system
(EHR).
If the EHR system is outsourced to the private sector, costs must be
controlled and private vendors must be stringently regulated.
The U.S. must
increase investment in NIH (National Institute of Health) as
a critical strategy to improve health care. We must continue to
encourage more medical and health research. Further, Congress must
restore essential programs to the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In recent years,
funding for core programs (such as chronic disease and injury
prevention, tobacco control and environmental health) have been cut.
I support
increased funding for the Veteran’s Administration (VA) which
supports health research at VA facilities nationwide. In the
proposed budget for 2009, research to improve health primarily for
veterans is cut. Those cuts in funding to the VA must be restored
and must be increased to meet the needs of our returning veterans.
It is especially
important that the research supported by the VA take into account
the special needs of our female veterans. They too are mentally and
physically wounded returning from the Middle East. Women make up 15%
of our active duty soldiers and 11% of those serving in Afghanistan
and Iraq. Surveys indicate between 71% - 90% of women soldiers have
been sexually assaulted or raped by the men serving with them. The
VA needs to recognize and deal with this issue.
The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for protecting
the public health by assuring the safety and effectiveness of drugs,
biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply,
cosmetics and products that emit radiation. Current funding levels
for FDA are not keeping pace with accelerated drug and device
creation or the increasing globalization of food supplies. The
public knows too well the results of not aggressively enforcing
regulations and testing new products. Congress must assure that the
FDA is properly funded and that their regulatory arm is supported.
The United States
has the ability and obligation to contribute to the improvement of
global health, both in terms of research and development and
the delivery systems to distribute information and supplies to
others around the world. The US should encourage the private sector
and educational institutions to expand such research and development
efforts and delivery mechanisms with financial incentives when
appropriate.
Here at home,
we have the moral
imperative to fund research which focuses on the particular needs of
those of low income and/or those who are minorities. The US should
encourage the private sector and educational institutions to
undertake such research with financial incentives where appropriate.
Physicians and
dentists, and their nurses and assistants, provide the first contact
for most patients needing medical and dental attention. They are,
indeed, the gatekeepers of the medical system. More emphasis should
placed on resolving health problems at this level, without
unnecessary and expensive referrals to specialists and without
unnecessary and expensive review by insurance companies.
A person’s mental
health often times has a real bearing that person’s physical health.
Mental health should not be ignored by either the public or private
sector.
The U.S. is in
danger of losing its global competitive edge in science, technology
and innovation. Medical and science programs must never be tied to
political agendas. Congress must address the cost of health care and
be a major contributor to the nations health research
infrastructure.
Democrat Bruce Slater
Supports extension of S-CHIP to cover all
children. Read more...
Republican Joe Pitts
Has voted
against any extension of S-CHIP beyond current economic criteria of
needy children
Pitts has received
at least $17,500 in campaign contributions from medical insurance
companies’ PAC’s
Democrat Bruce Slater
Supports universal, single payer health care
system
Republican Joe Pitts
Continues
to support the current medical health providers’ positions – i.e.,
those of his campaign contributors
Pitts has received
over $245,600 in campaign contributions from PAC’s representing the
medical providers, nursing homes and hospitals
Democrat Bruce Slater
Supports offering senior citizens prescription
drug benefits through Medicare
Republican Joe Pitts
Supports
prescription drug coverage through unregulated private insurance
plans rather than Medicare (HR 4954; 2002)
Pitts has received
over $100,000 in campaign contributions from PAC’s representing the
pharmaceutical industry
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