HARMAN CALLS FOR STRONG PUBLIC OPTION, LOWER DRUG PRICES IN STATEMENT AT MARK-UP OF HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL

Lawmaker says, “I’ve seen firsthand the importance and the challenges of providing quality medical care”

Washington, D.C. -- Congresswoman Jane Harman (D-Venice), member of the Energy & Commerce Health subcommittee, delivered the following opening statement at today’s E&C mark-up of health care reform legislation:

As the daughter and sister of medical doctors, I’ve seen firsthand the importance and the challenges of providing quality medical care.  My father treated three generations of patients in a middle-class neighborhood of Los Angeles.  He believed, as I do, that everyone should have access to good healthcare.  To me this is a core American value, vital to economic competitiveness, and urgently needed.

A good healthcare bill will provide universal coverage, foster competition, encourage innovation, and preserve patients’ choice.  I strongly believe that a robust public health insurance option is essential to achieving these goals. Neither a single-payer system nor an all-private market approach can achieve the results that competition among a robust public option and market-based plans will. 

We know what happens when insurance companies don’t compete: The results range from complacency to price gouging.  A public option will help fix this, harnessing the power of the market to drive down premiums, encourage efficiency and quality, and keep bloated treatment regimens in check.  By one estimate, it could save the country $800 billion over the next decade.

Clearly, insurers are not solely responsible for the current predicament.  Providers, hospitals, and drug companies must shoulder some responsibility.  A healthcare bill should motivate them to become more competitive and efficient.  My father made house calls.  Those days may be gone, but innovation can harness American ingenuity to achieve the quality of care and level of excellence this country’s healthcare system was once famous for.

Let me highlight several additions, which could have a significant impact:

• First, drug prices must be lower.  The provision in Medicare Part D which forbids the government from negotiating lower prices is a travesty.  And we need to revisit reimportation.
• Second, we should bolster surge capacity in emergency medical systems by creating a fast track for military medics to become EMTs.  With their recent experience administering trauma care in Afghanistan and Iraq, these veterans are ideally suited to respond to large-scale medical emergencies. I will be offering an amendment to do this.
• Third, we must protect DSH funds for safety net hospitals serving indigent patients, something I know is critically important to Chairman Waxman.  This is a lifeline for big city hospitals—particularly those with trauma centers—that bear an unequal burden.
• Fourth, we should consider raising the exemption threshold for small businesses—the primary economic drivers in our communities and the key to overcoming our present staggering unemployment rates.

Every member of this Committee knows our health system is broken.  This bill charts a responsible course to fix it, and I commend Chairmen Waxman, Pallone and key staff.  Now is the time to demonstrate bipartisanship and courage—to honor our Chairman Emeritus whose name is on the bill and live up to the legacy of this great Committee.

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