Cantwell on healthcare reform
Senator Cantwell is fully engaged on healthcare reform.
Admittedly, this isn’t journalistic objectivity talking. This is after having worked with her and her staff on reform through the summer. As a member of the Finance Committee, she has been in the weeds on the details of the reform conversation for the last 10 months since it started in the Senate Finance committee.However, after seeing this quote posted on Facebook by my friend, Derek Birnie, I appreciate even more her engagement.
Cantwell on Baucus bill: “I wouldn’t vote for a bill that doesn’t have Medicare reform and the public option… What would I tell the people in Washington state?”
The quote comes from an article in the Miami Herald, of all places, by Les Blumenthal. Blumenthal has been on the DC beat for the Tacoma News Tribune and McClatchy Newspapers for years. I haven’t seen the piece printed in the NW yet. Here is the crux of why she is tackling Medicare:
Cantwell and the other Democratic members of the state’s congressional delegation have long-insisted any reform bill has to include changes in the Medicare reimbursement formula. Medicare reimbursements for doctors and hospitals in Washington state are among the lowest in the nation. The current formula punishes states like Washington which have efficient health care systems and rewards those that have inefficient systems, Cantwell said.
If the efficiencies already adopted by Washington state were imposed nationally, Cantwell said it could save Medicare roughly $100 billion a year.
I’ll have more on how the northwest gets hammered by inequities in Medicare reimbursements later. Until then, this Senate floor speech by Senator Cantwell has a good, if longish, explanation.
Posted by DJ at 8:32 PM 0 comments Links to this post