In the first press event since the passage of the House health bill, H.R. 3962, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi joined Congressmen Jim McDermott (WA-7) and Jay Inslee (WA-1) at Seattle’s Swedish Medical Center. That bill passed 220-215 in the House on Saturday.
“It’s important that we would come here, to Swedish, on the first public hearing for many of us since this legislation passed,” said Pelosi. “I say appropriate because Swedish has been in the lead, and what is being said here is nothing to be taken for granted. When we’re talking about admiration among healthcare professionals… when we’re talking about a Medical Home, when we’re talking about reducing infections, Swedish has been in the lead.”
The press event was not without disruption, though both were minor. A woman tried to enter the press briefing while McDermott spoke, shouting, “I have Stage 4 kidney cancer – arrest me!” At the end of the conference, a man shouted to Pelosi, “Please don’t send me to jail for not buying health insurance.”
Both were in reference to the health insurance mandate that is part of the bill. Pelosi responded to a question about the mandate, saying, “Well, the point is that we want to make sure people have access to healthcare.”
When pressed, she continued, “I think the legislation is very fair in this respect. It gives people an opportunity to have healthcare, access to quality healthcare. If they can’t afford it, it provides subsidies for them to do so. But do you think it’s fair if somebody says, I’m just not going to have any if I get sick and I’ll just go to the emergency room and hand the bill to [taxpayers]?”
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Posts Tagged ‘Jay Inslee’
Speaker Pelosi joins McDermott and Inslee at Swedish in Seattle
Monday, November 9th, 2009Speaker Pelosi joining three Washington Representatives in Seattle at 2pm
Monday, November 9th, 2009Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), fresh of her victory with the passage of a House healthcare reform bill, will tour Swedish Medical Center in Seattle today with Washington Representatives Jay Inslee (1st), Norm Dicks (6th), and Jim McDermott (7th).
All four voted in favor of the H.R. 3962.
Representatives going against the grain in House healthcare reform vote
Monday, November 9th, 2009Late Saturday night the House voted to approve H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, by a narrow margin of 220-215.
One Republican, Representative Joseph Cao (R-LA), voted for the bill, and 39 Democrats voted against the bill.
Cao cited his conscience as the reason for his vote. “Twenty percent of the people in my district are uninsured and we have tremendous health care issues in the district,” Cao said.
Representative Brian Baird (D), of Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, voted against the bill. “Until more information is available on premium estimates and Medicare impacts, I will vote against the legislation in its current form. I will wait to make a decision on final legislation until this critical information becomes available and when the House and Senate together produce one bill,” Baird said.
Here is how the rest of Washington Congressional Delegation voted:
1st: Jay Inslee (D) — Voted Yes
2nd: Rick Larsen (D) — Voted Yes
3rd: Brian Baird (D) — Voted No
4th: Doc Hastings (R) — Voted No
5th: Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) — Voted No
6th: Norm Dicks (D) — Voted Yes
7th: Jim McDermott (D) — Voted Yes
8th: Dave Reichert (R) — Voted No
9th: Adam Smith (D) — Voted Yes
Everett Clinic opposes Public Option
Friday, October 23rd, 2009Yesterday, Everett Clinic CEO Richard Cooper wrote this letter to Representative Jay Inslee. The letter also went to Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Representative Rick Larsen.
Dear Representative Inslee:
We are writing to express our opposition to the “Public Option” proposal that is currently being considered in the U.S. House of Representatives. We are very concerned that the “Public Option” would pay the same rates as Medicare. Our experience is that Medicare rates are not sufficient to cover the costs of providing care.
As you know, Medicare pays less in Washington than it pays in other states. Providers in our state are penalized because we deliver care more efficiently.
The Everett Clinic cares for more than 28,000 Medicare patients and we just completed an independent review of our Medicare finances. Under the original Medicare fee-for-service model, we lose $464 per patient each year. This year we are projecting a loss of approximately $11.7 million treating Medicare patients. With anticipated growth in the Medicare population, it is estimated that the loss will grow to $70 million over the next five years. If these same rates are also applied to a segment of our private insurance customers, it will have a devastating effect on our bottom line and our ability to care for patients.
Under the current system, the commercial insurers in our state subsidize Medicare payments by up to 40 percent. This subsidy is essential for us continue to care for our Medicare patients. If in addition payments for private pay patients are lowered to the level currently paid for Medicare patients in Washington, the entire healthcare financing system in our state will be permanently damaged. Patients will find it difficult to access care as providers struggle to keep their doors open.
As you are aware, The Everett Clinic, along with others in our area, have received national recognition for providing high-quality, low-cost care. We believe there are ways to improve healthcare that do not involve a radical overhaul of the entire healthcare system. Instead, there should be a concerted effort to implement proven measures that will reduce costs while improving care.
Thank you for the opportunity to share our views. We look forward to discussing this issue further at your earliest convenience.
Richard H. Cooper
Chief Executive Officer
Washington legislators hold second healthcare town hall
Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
On Tuesday night in Bellevue, Senator Karen Keiser (D-Kent), chair of the Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee, and Representative Eileen Cody (D-Burien), chair of the House Health Care & Wellness Committee, held their second in a series of four healthcare town halls.
Of the first two events in the series, Senator Keiser said she believes, “These are marvelous. Democracy in action.”
Thus far the town halls have gone smoothly and have been largely disruption free. That is in stark contrast to what people have seen from national news sources. “People have a lot of concerns,” said Senator Keiser. “It’s a wonderful development, they’ve been misrepresented.”
This town hall attracted several more members of the political world, including Senator Rodney Tom (D-Bellevue), Representative Ross Hunter (D-Bellevue), Steve Hill, Administrator of the Health Care Authority, and former State Representative Max Vekich, who is currently running to be a Seattle Port Commissioner.
Senator Keiser and Representative Cody emphasized the need for a transition to evidence based methods in healthcare policy, which will help reduce healthcare costs. Keiser cited the $55 million in savings in 2008 on prescription drugs when the drugs were compared by patient outcomes and the effectiveness of the drugs rather than their cost.
Washington legislators are now working with Congressman Jay Inslee to adapt some of that language for H.R. 3200, the healthcare reform bill from the House of Representatives.
Federal healthcare reforms would include consumer protections that prevent rescission, the practice of taking insurance away from consumers after they have become ill, extending health benefits of younger adults that are on their parents’ health plan to the age of 26, ending gender discrimination, and ending cost-sharing for preventative care, such as expensive colonoscopies.
Another key theme in the discussion was aligning physician incentives to patient outcomes. Currently, if a patient has the wrong arm amputated and has to go back in to get the other one removed, the hospital would be paid for both operations. Keiser said that under the new system, “Avoidable errors will not be reimbursed.” That would mean only “paying the hospital when you have recovery” she said.
Confronting popular misnomers in the media, Keiser assured the crowd, “There will be no death panels. There has never been a death panel.”
The pair also confronted reimbursement inequities around the country. Keiser said, Washington is 11% under the national average for Medicare reimbursements, and Florida is 13% over the national average. Yet Washington State has better outcomes, said Keiser.
Currently, taxpayers and people with health insurance pay for those who do not have health insurance but utilize medical facilities. “Healthcare is a system of cost shifting,” said Keiser. “We pay one way or the other.”
Press Release: Rep. Inslee working to improve Medicare reimbursement rates in Washington
Sunday, August 9th, 2009MEDIA RELEASE
Monday, July 27, 2009
CONTACT
Torie Brazitis
202-225-6311
202-225-0434
Inslee strikes deal for Washington state health care
WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, in a six-hour meeting with House leadership, U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) forged a deal to better reimburse Washington state physicians and hospitals for the high-quality, low-cost medical care found in Washington state. For years, a complicated state-by-state payment formula and a fee-for-service reimbursement system deprived Washington doctors and hospitals of proper payment for quality, cost-conscious care.
“For years we have worked to untie the Gordian knot that kept Washington on the low end of the reimbursement system,” said Inslee, a member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee. “On Thursday, we cut it. Norm Dicks and I worked together to create a provision to incentivize Washington state’s legendary efficiency in the rest of the country.
“For too long, Washingtonians pioneered high-quality, low-cost care while other places continued with out-dated, wasteful systems,” he continued. “These new steps forward could now save the country billions in the long term by rewarding value, rather than volume, in health care delivery. The agreement will correct the staggering regional disparities in Medicare reimbursement rates, which will mean millions in additional reimbursement for doctors and hospitals in our state.
“This deal is huge victory for Washington, as it could correct the fundamental inequalities in the Medicare which result in underfunded health care in low-cost states like Washington.”
Thanks to the work of Inslee and U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash) over the past two weeks, an agreement was reached that two Institutes of Medicine studies in the health care reform bill will now be completed and implemented simultaneously over the next two years. One study will examine how to create a value index to guide Medicare reimbursement rates instead of the current “fee for service” system. The recommendations will automatically go into effect unless Congress objects within sixty days.
The other study will examine geographical disparities in reimbursement rates. The Institute’s recommendations to fix those disparities will then go into effect automatically.
The goal was to finish all studies and changes before the public option goes into effect in 2013 so the recommendations would be incorporated into it. Originally, the studies would be completed over the next three years, leaving inequalities in place as the public option came into effect.
The studies will critically examine inputs, such as cost of living, and the inclusion of a value index in Medicare reimbursement rates. This deal would provide real cost containment in the bill and would begin to incentivize the quality, not the quantity, of medical care across the United States.
Additional issues remain for Washington state, including resolving concerns over the phase-out of Medicare Advantage.
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