| Matt responded to some comments made by Dennis Rehberg about health care reform, likely in this September 9 Mike Dennison article...
Congressman Rehberg:
I read with interest your comments in yesterday's Lee Newspapers regarding the President's proposal for health care reform. Over the past three years, Forward Montana's members and volunteers have engaged thousands of Montanans in one-on-one conversations regarding health care. While we've heard opinions from across the political spectrum, much of the feedback we have received matches up with the concerns you raised: will we focus on preventative care, what can be done about malpractice costs, and can we increase the size of insurance pools to lower rates?
In part because of these needs, we are extremely optimistic about the President's proposed reforms. As I'm sure you heard, his speech touched on each of these points.
Regarding preventative medicine, President Obama said last night:
[I]nsurance companies will be required to cover, with no extra charge, routine checkups and preventive care, like mammograms and colonoscopies, because there's no reason we shouldn't be catching diseases like breast cancer and colon cancer before they get worse. That makes sense, it saves money, and it saves lives.
In the greater details provided regarding the plan on the White House website, more details are given:
Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money. The President's plan ensures that all Americans have access to free preventive services under their health insurance plans. Too many Americans forgo needed preventive care, in part because of the cost of check-ups and screenings that can identify health problems early when they can be most effectively treated. For example, 24 percent of women age 40 and over have not received a mammogram in the past two years, and 38 percent of adults age 50 and over have never had a colon cancer screening.
Regarding medical malpractice costs, the President wants to act immediately. His plan states:
Orders immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine. The President's plan instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward on awarding medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as soon as possible.
Finally, you raised the important issue of increasing the size of insurance pools to lower costs. As an employer that currently purchases insurance on the small group market and as an individual previously insured through the individual market, I assure you that this concern hits close to home for me. The President's plan creates a new health insurance exchange specifically designed to tackle this problem. As he explained last night:
We'll do this by creating a new insurance exchange -- a marketplace where individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance at competitive prices. Insurance companies will have an incentive to participate in this exchange because it lets them compete for millions of new customers. As one big group, these customers will have greater leverage to bargain with the insurance companies for better prices and quality coverage.
I hope you find this information helpful as you consider whether to support this legislation that is, as the President explained last night, going to be fully paid for, rather than debt financed like past years' tax cuts and program expansions. This responsible plan will help today's Americans without taking out a second mortgage on the future.
Please contact me if I can be of any further assistance.
Sincerely,
Matt Singer
CEO, Forward Montana |
