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Mike on Health Care

Preserving and expanding access to quality health care is a top priority for me. I am very hopeful that this year we will finally achieve comprehensive health care reform. This is a priority for President Obama and for Congress. As with all meaningful reform, the devil will be in the details, but I am convinced that the resolve exists to make true health care reform a reality.

As the crafting of health care reform legislation progresses, efforts are already underway within the House to change the current system. One piece of legislation that speaks to the goal of universal coverage is H.R. 676: the United States National Health Insurance Act. I am a co-sponsor of this legislation which would establish a national single-payer healthcare system. I am aware, however, that consensus may not exist for this approach. As a Member of Congress, I have never let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Nor will I support proposals that I regard as flawed simply because their proponents label them as "reform." I am confident, though, that momentum for real reform exists and much will be accomplished this session.

As a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Community Health Centers Caucus, which has over 115 members, I am fighting to expand funding for the nation's health centers, which provide cost-effective health care in neighborhoods that are traditionally underserved by the health care system.

We remain too far from the goal of "universal access, zero disparities." I have led the fight to restore funding that had been cut from the Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) program. REACH provides grants to localities so they can develop systems responsive to their particular local needs. It remains one of the best tools for reducing and ultimately eliminating disparities in health outcomes. I will continue to fight for adequate funding.

I strongly opposed Republican-led efforts to undermine the fundamental nature of the Medicare program. Along with the entire Massachusetts Delegation, I voted against the so-called "Medicare Modernization Act" that created the inadequate and overly complicated Medicare prescription drug benefit. Additionally, for the first time in Medicare's history, the bill requires seniors seeking access to a Medicare benefit to enroll in a private plan. Further, and more troubling, without additional revenue and without any attempt to control rising prescription drug costs, the bill also sets Medicare on a path to insolvency.

During my first term in Congress, I learned through personal experience that Medicare did not cover vision rehabilitation services, essential for helping vision-impaired seniors maintain their independence and prevent future injuries. I filed legislation to establish this benefit through the Medicare program. In 2006, after years of work, the Medicare Vision Rehabilitation Demonstration was launched. Although the previous Administration did not implement this program as we had hoped, this represents an important first step towards gaining full coverage of this benefit. We will continue working to improve the program.

I am privileged to represent some of our nation's and the world's greatest universities, research institutes and teaching hospitals, and I am determined to preserve our preeminence in biomedical sciences and in academic medicine. Breakthroughs in our understanding of disease, in prevention, diagnosis, and clinical care remain to be achieved.

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