Senate Proceeding on Dec 4th, 2009 :: 7:38:00 to 7:47:50
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7:37:58 to 7:38:18( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: damage that i've described this afternoon? thank you, i yield the senator from maine. mr. baucus: the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: i yield to senator klobuchar ten minutes. ms. klobuchar: thank you very much. the presiding officer: the

7:38:00 to 7:47:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

7:38:19 to 7:38:39( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent to peek for up to 12 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: i rise today to speak about true health care reform. the way i look at this in my state is it's a matter of affordability and cost. we have one of the highest percentage of people covered in the country, mr. president, in minnesota. but the issue is it's becoming

7:38:40 to 7:39:00( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: more and more expensive for the people of our state to afford health care. i try to remember three simple numbers of all the numbers we're going to hear in the next few weeks. those are the numbers 6, 12 and 24. ten years of cola costs for an average family to pay for their health care a family. now it's $12,000 with a lot of people paying a lot more.

7:39:01 to 7:39:22( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: ten years from now if we don't do anything, it's going to be $36,000 a year, something regular people just can't afford. 6, 12 and 24. it's not going in the right direction, mr. president. if we don't act, costs will continue to skyrocket. the country spent $2.4 trillion

7:39:23 to 7:39:43( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: on health care last year alone. that's one out of every $6 spent in the economy. by 2018 national health care spending is expected to reach $4.4 trillion, over 20% of our entire economy. despite spending one and a half times more per person on health care than any other country,

7:39:44 to 7:40:04( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: many of our people don't even have health care coverage. and many of them are losing their coverage because of preexisting conditions or beuse it simply is costing too much. these costs are breaking the businesses. you can s coverage, 1999, $2,192.

7:40:05 to 7:40:27( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: in 2008, the last figures we have available, $4,704. a family costs $19 -- tkhr-rbs 5,791. now what are they paying? $12,680. now look what's happening to small business, mr. president.

7:40:28 to 7:40:48( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: a study by the council of economic advisors found small businesses pay up to 18% more than large businesses to provide health care coverage. in a recent national survey nearly three-quarters of small businesses that did not offer benefits cited high premiums as the reason. now look at it this way, mr. president, inflation usually

7:40:49 to 7:41:10( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: raises the cost of most goods and services betwe 2% to 3% per year. health care premium costs already have been going up close to 8% a year. that's an increase americans just can't afford. wages have not kept pace with an increase in premiums. wages. look at this. between 1999 and 2007, the

7:41:11 to 7:41:32( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: average american worker saw his wages increase 29%. obviously the last few years it has not been that rosy. but 29% between 1999-2007. how much did his insurance premiums go up? 120% during the same time period. so, in other

7:41:33 to 7:41:53( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: care premiums are taking on a bigger average worker's paycheck. and these costs are breaking the backs of the american my colleague across the aisle was talking about medicare. well, the truth is this, medicare is projected to go into deficit by 2017 if we don't do anything about it. and recent congressional budget

7:41:54 to 7:42:15( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: office estimates show that the majority of t projected $344 billion increase in federal revenues are scheduled to automatically go to cover rising health care costs. medicare, something that people who are 55 want to get when they're 65. people who are 65 want to keep their medicare until they live tohe ripe old age of 95.

7:42:16 to 7:42:37( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: but if we don't do anything about it, by 2017. how do we do this? how do we get to the place we want to go? we must get our money's worth from our heah care dollars. the problem now is we're paying too much and we're not getting a good return on what we pay. the solution mu be to get the best value for our health care dollars.

7:42:38 to 7:42:59( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: otherwise, costs are going to continue to wreak massive srobg on the budgets of -- to wreak havoc on governments, business and individual families. health care is 57% of all federal health spending. if we want to sustain medicare, which we all do, to provide that kind of high-quality health care that our seniors deserve, we must do something to address the scal challenges.

7:43:00 to 7:43:23( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the root of the problem is that most health care is purchased o a tests, more surgery means more money. quantity, not quality pays. according to researchers at darthmouth medical $700illion per year is wasted on unnecessary, ineffective care. now, my favorite example with

7:43:24 to 7:43:45( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: all this is what a clinic did in pennsylvania. they weren't happy with how their diabetes treatment was going. they said we're going to have our routine patients see nurses. and more difficult cases will see doctors. then those epidemiologists will review the records of the nurses and make sure that the patient is progressing as we want. guess what? patient quality goes way up because they see nurses and they

7:43:46 to 7:44:07( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: see them more regularly. results go way up because the epidemiologists are spending their time on the most difficult cases and reviewing the records of the other. costs go down $200 per patient per month. guess what? they get paid less, way, less for that kind that's why the system is messed upnd we need to change it.

7:44:08 to 7:44:29( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: we are rewarding based on results. we put the patient in the ivers seat so when that patient gets better results, we reward with payments. in minnesota, we have several great examples of this coordinated ocome system. at a place like the mayo clinic, park nick let, st. mary's in

7:44:30 to 7:44:50( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: duluth, it is value, not volume. everywhere in the country mirrored the efficient level of spending in the mayo's clinic home region in minnesota. for the last four years of chronically ill patients' lives if we used that same system all over

7:44:51 to 7:45:11( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: this system in texas, florida, we would spend -- save $50 billion every five years and get higher quality care. this is not like a hotel where you pay more money and get a better care. in this system when you pay more money you get less quality care.

7:45:12 to 7:45:32( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: that is whe we need to bring the country, efficient care that costs less but is better value. that's what we need to do. linking rewards to outcomes creates an incentive for physicians and hospitals to work together to improve quality and efficiency. using bundling to bill for

7:45:33 to 7:45:53( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: bundling so you look at the whole outcome of everyone working together, so you rely on nurses when you want to rely on nurses, you rely on doctors when you want to rely on doctors. reducing hospital readmissions -- you wants to go back in the hospital infections. when the go back into the hospital, the hospital gets

7:45:54 to 7:46:14( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: rewarded for that. so we want to put in place protocols that make hospitals safer places to get treats. one-year hospital readmissions cost micare $17.4 billion and in 2007 report by medpac found that medicare paid an average of $7,200 per readmission that was preventable. integrated care -- where you've

7:46:15 to 7:46:35( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: got a quaerback that's the primary care provider working with a team. instead of having 15 specialists running around the field running over each other, you have a quarterback. well, let's just say like brett phaser of the minnesota vikings. you have one quarterback who is your in charge with a team of doctors who look at all the records.

7:46:36 to 7:46:56( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: that's integrated care. that's what this bill does. you think about the money we can save. medicare fraud alone coste taxpayers more than $60 billion a year. the money is going to conmen,

7:46:57 to 7:47:17( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: people leaching off the system, people making up that they are providing services when they're not. we have a bill w we're working together to bring that down so that money can go to our seniors instead of going to a burchl of people who are ripping off the system. you look at how you save money, you look at how you reduce covelets in medicare. well, you reduce costs in

7:47:18 to 7:47:39( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: medicare by making changes to the system and making this work. we must look to the future, mr. president. that's why health care reform this year is so crucial. this bill is not about today or even next year; it's about five years, it's about ten years from now and beyond. we can't afford for the people of this country to hold off any longer.

7:47:40 to 7:47:50( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: we can bring these costs down. we can bring the quality up. and we can reward the people of this country for the money that they're putting into health care. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor.