Dear Mr. Mattis:
Thank you for taking the time to contact me about health care reform. I appreciate hearing from all Pennsylvanians about the issues that matter most to them.
Over the last several months, my staff and I have met with and heard from literally tens of thousands of constituents across Pennsylvania with their comments and suggestions about health care reform. There are many strong opinions on this issue, and while we may not always agree, please be assured that your comments are very important to me, and I always appreciate hearing from you.
I believe that we cannot afford to wait any longer to reform America’s health care system. The cost of inaction is too high: every day, more and more Americans are losing their health insurance. Millions more are underinsured, inadequately protected against a serious health problem. As a member of the United States Senate and of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), I am working with my colleagues and with President Obama to enact meaningful health care reform, with the goal of providing every American with access to high quality, affordable health care. As Congress continues to address health care reform, my priority will be to ensure that the unique health needs of children are met.
On July 15, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions successfully reported out our bill, the Affordable Health Choices Act, to reform the Nation’s healthcare system. At its core, this landmark bill provides additional choices for Americans who need health insurance, while maintaining health insurance options that currently exist and that individuals may wish to keep.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the HELP Committee bill will cost $611 billion over the next ten years. Our current system is not sustainable and waiting to act or doing nothing will only make the problems worse. If we do not act, more people will lose coverage. As costs increase, the quality of care will diminish and the ballooning costs incurred by the government and business will endanger America’s fiscal health. The Affordable Health Choices Act will reduce costs by emphasizing prevention, cutting waste and modernizing the health care system through quality information technology.
The HELP Committee bill also promotes prevention by giving Americans the information they need to take charge of their own health, such as information on early screening for heart disease, cancer and depression and information on healthy nutrition. The HELP Committee bill takes strong steps to improve America’s healthcare workforce, making sound investments in training the doctors, nurses, and other health professionals who will serve the needs of patients in the years to come and ensuring that patients’ care is better coordinated so they see the right doctors, nurses and other health practitioners to address their individual health needs.
The HELP Committee bill also includes important consumer protections. These include provisions to prohibit health insurance companies from imposing annual or lifetime caps on coverage; prohibit insurers from discriminating against individuals with a preexisting condition; prevent insurers from dropping individuals who get sick or denying them coverage; and to prohibit discrimination based on gender.
To address the need for more choices for Americans, The HELP Committee bill includes a public health insurance option called the Community Health Insurance Plan. This plan will be one of many plans available to individuals through the Affordable Health Benefit Gateways that will be established in each state. These gateways build on the success of the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), which provides a range of different health plans from which to choose to federal employees including civilian employees, Members of Congress and their staffs, retirees and their families. The Community Health Insurance Plan will be required to comply with the same rules governing private plans offered through the health insurance gateways, and will comply with the same insurance regulations as private insurers.
The Committee on Finance, of which I am not a member, has jurisdiction over other areas of health care reform and has recently developed its own legislation. This jurisdiction includes many of the options being discussed to finance health care reform such as Medicare payment reforms, taxing health benefits, and implementing fees on parts of the health care industry. Some of the most significant provisions regarding children also fall under the jurisdiction of the Committee on Finance, such as the Medicaid and CHIP programs. After the Committee on Finance has finished considering its health care reform legislation, the bill will be merged with the HELP Committee bill for consideration by the full Senate. I will be working hard so that the merged Senate bill ensures consumer protection, affordability and access to quality health care for our working families and children.
For more information about the health care reform legislation Congress is considering, and to read the text and summaries of the bills, please visit my blog at http://casey.senate.gov/about/blog/.
Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future about this or any other matter of importance to you.
If you have access to the Internet, I encourage you to visit my web site, http://casey.senate.gov. I invite you to use this online office as a comprehensive resource to stay up-to-date on my work in Washington, request assistance from my office or share with me your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you and to Pennsylvania.
Sincerely,
Bob Casey
United States Senator
