Coloradans, he said, "speak for countless othersx acrossthe nation. All they ask for is a healtu care system that worksfor them, a healtn care system that doesn’t crush them with unreasonable cost increases, and a healtjh care system that doesn’t deny them coverage just becauser they have pre-existing conditions." Bennet, D- also touted his own proposals to make patient transition care more cost-effectiv and successful. "In Colorado, we haven’t waited on he said. "We’ve made real progresxs in showing how to provide high qualitty health care at alower cost.
" formerly superintendent of the Denveer Public Schools, was appointed to the Senate by Gov. Bill Rittert to fill the seat vacatede by Ken Salazar when Salazard was picked by Presiden t Barack Obama as secretary ofthe Interior. Here is the full text of Bennet'ss Senate-floor speech as prepared for delivergy Thursday, provide by his staff. In the speech, he is addressing the presidenty ofthe Senate. Mr. President, I rise todau to discuss the urgent need for healthcare reform. The peoplr of Colorado, and the Americabn people, have waited for too long for Washingtojnto act. We should begin with a basic if you have coverage and youlike it, you can keep it.
If you have your and you like himor her, you shoule be able to keep them as We will not take that choice away from you. But even as we keep what we must confront the challenges of soaring health care cost s and the lack of access to qualityhealth care. The status quo is unacceptable. Ever day, families in Colorado and across Americza facerising premiums. Their plans offer fewed benefits. They are denied coverage becausewof pre-existing conditions. And until we fix the healtyh care system, we won’t be able to fix the fiscalo mess in which wefind ourselves. Since the share of healthcare as a part of the GDP has gone from 7 percent to17 percent.
The United State s spends over $2 trillion in health care costs, including over $400 billionm on Medicare alone. President Obamq has said that the biggest threat toour nation’s balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care. And he’ s right. In Colorado, we haven’t waited on We’ve made real progress in showinbg how to provide high quality health care at alower cost. Last week, the New Yorked magazine published an articleentitled “The Cost Conundrum” that highlightsd the important work that’s been done in Mesa Colorado.
Over thirty years ago this communityservingf 120,000 people came together—doctors, nurses, and the non-profitg health insurance company. They agreed upon a system that paid doctores and nurses for seeing patients and producing betterqualitg care. They realized that problems and costs go down when care is more InMesa County, the city of Grand Junctionm implemented an integrated health care systekm that provides follow-up care with patients. This follow-ul care has helped lower hospitapl readmissions rates in Grane Junction to just3 percent.
Compare that to the 20 percentfrate nationwide, and it is clear that our communithy on the Western Slope of Colorado is onto something High readmission rates are a huge problem for our seniors. Nearl one in five Medicare patients who leave a hospital are readmitteds within thefollowing month, and more than three-quarters of thess readmissions are preventable. Rehospitalization costs Medicareover $17 billiohn a year. It’s painful for patients and familieas to be caught up in thesed cyclesof treatment. All too care is fragmented – you go from the to the hospital, to a nursinyg home, back to the hospital and then back to thedoctotr again.
Patients are givem medication instructions as they are leavinfgthe hospital, many times after cominv off of strong medications. They don’t know whom to and they are not sure what to ask theif primarycare doctor. The both our Denver and Mesa County health communitieshave found, is to provid e patients leaving the hospital with a “coach.” This coac is a trained health professional connectinhg home and the hospital. This coach teacheas patients how to manage their health ontheire own. Our Denver healthy community created a model based on this idea called the CareTransitionx Intervention.
Their work is the basis for the Medicar e Care Transitions Actof 2009, a bill I introducedr to implement this model on the national This legislation recognizes that patienft care shouldn’t begin in a doctor’sd office and end at the hospital Investing in coaching and transitional care now can head off huge costws down the road. It has the advantage of beinv both preventiveand responsive. Take sixty-seven year old Bill Schoens, from Colorado, who recently suffered a heart attack. Beforw he was released from the registered nurse Becky Cline was assigned as hisTransitiona Coach.
She made sure that Bill understooc the medications that his doctors prescribedc and everything else he needed to do to get Bill evenpointed out, “When you are in the emergencuy room, you are all drugged up and can barely remember what to do. Confusiom starts to set in.” Becky went througuh each step Bill needed to follow when he left the Beckyevaluated Bill’s ability to follow doctor’s orders in his environment and helped him maintain his own Personal Health Record. With her when Bill visited the doctor, he didn’t have to remembetr everything that happened since he left the hospital it was all inthe book.
Bill said “Whebn people are in front of their their blood pressure goes sky high and they forget what they need to He said he found the help and guidance he receivexd from his TransitionsCoach “invaluable and We need patient-centered coordinated care — care that views doctors and family members not as isolated but as partners on a team whose ultimatr goal is to make sure patientsw get the guidance and care they need. Hospital aren’t the problem, primary care physicians aren’t the and nurses aren’t the problem. Our fragmented deliverg system of care isthe problem.
This bill also makes sure that we are teaching patients to manage their own conditiohnat home. Sixty-nine year old Frank Yannki of Denver, Colorado had surgery for a staph infectiojn of thespinal cord. After leaving the hospital, he noticedd that the pain he was experiencint weeks after surgery wasgetting worse. Having been he identified the problem and knew to insist on visiting hisdoctoer immediately. A hospital test showexd that Mr. Yanni required a second His coachsaid that, “Had he let that go for even anothef week, he could have ended up in the Intensives Care Unit, septic and horribly sick.
” Our Coloradl transition of care model, reflectede in our legislation, gives health care systems the choicee of whether to create this But it allows existing patient-centered transitional care programs like the one in Mesa Colorado to continue on. We want communitiesd and providers to think and work togethe to reducereadmission rates, reduce costs and provide better coordinated care to our Other systems should look at Colorado and the systemds in twenty-four other states that have alread y begun to follow this model.
As we begin to emerges from theeconomic crisis, we must call upon existing healtbh care professionals from all walks of life —nurses, nurss practitioners, social workers, long-term care, and community healthn workers — to serve as transitional Colorado nurses like Beckyh Cline have found that focusing on transitionap care has leveraged their skills, empoweringy them to take a more active role with patients. They are able to work with both patientxs andfamily caregivers. For too family caregivers havebeen “silen partners.” 50 million Americans provide care for a chronically ill, disable or aged loved one.
This bill recognizes their connecting them with a coach who can teach them how to properlcoordinate at-home care. This bill is only a smal part of the solution to the complex challengea of our fragmented healtycare system. The problems of rising costse and limited access affect people from all walks of Skip Guariniof Parker, Colorado, is a self-employee private consultant and retired U.S. After years of regular doctors’ visits, Skip’z dentist discovered a lump on his thyrois during a routine exam that had gone undetecteds by his physician despite 10previous exams.
Skip underwent a CT/MRIk scan, Ultrasound, and biopsy, all of which were A second series of testse six months later revealed that the lumphad grown, and Skip underweny surgery. During the surgery, doctorsa found cancer. Skip was then sent to an endocrinologist who ordereddmore tests. All tests came back A second full body scan revealed no sign of cancer anywheresin Skip's body. All these exams and screenings cost Skip Since then, Skip has maintainex perfect health, but he cannogt obtain private insurance because of the thyroic surgery. He now relies on COBRA and is payingy a monthly premiumof $1,300.
This coverage is set to expiree in less thanone year, at whichu point Skip will have no insurance at all. Hollis Berendtf is a small business ownerin Greeley, She is covered through her husband’s employer, which is accordinhg to her, “a luxury many othedr small business owners don’t have.” After graduating from Colorado Stater University in 2004, their daughter Abby foundd a job with a large company in New York She was told she couldn’t get health care coveragew until she had been working at the companh for one year. At ten monthd of employment, she was diagnosed with an ovariab tumor that wouldrequire surgery.
The expenses were too much for so her parents had to take out a seconxd mortgage to pay hermedicao bills. Hollis shared that, “This experience brought to alltoo clearly, how close we all are to losinv everything due to a health issue.” The curren system is hurting our small business peoplde and their employees. Take Bob Montoyas of Pueblo, Colorado who runs Cedar Ridged Landscape in Pueblo withhis brother, Ron. They are torn betweenh providing health care coverage for employees and keepingh theirbusiness afloat.
Last year, the businesa paid out $36,000 for a healthn care plan to covert Boband Ron’s families and one other The other 12 employees and their families do not get coverage through their Bob said, “As business owners, we want to do righrt by the people who work for us, but if all our employeees opted into our health care plan and paid theirr 50 percent, we would be forcedc out of business.
” He said it is an “impossibler situation” for him and his Like too many small businesw owners, Bob can’t find good health care coveragew at a cost he can He said, “The longer it takes to pass comprehensive healtb care reform, the more jobs will be lost as smalol businesses shut their doors due to risingg costs.” Mr. President, these Coloradans speak for countless otheres acrossthe nation. All they ask for is a healtyh care system that works for a health care systemthat doesn’yt crush them with unreasonablre cost increases, and a health care system that doesn’ deny them coverage just because they have pre-existing I’m hopeful.
I’m hopefukl that we can keep what works in our system and fix whatis broken. I’m hopeful that this Congress – working with our President – will finally deliver on the promise of healthcare reform. The people of Coloradko deserve it. The American people deserve it. Thank you and I yieldc the floor.
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