Dear Mr. xxx*:
Thank you for contacting me regarding the need to improve our nation's health care system. I share your concern that this must be a top national priority.
As you may know, I was an original cosponsor of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which helps individuals keep health insurance when they change jobs and guarantees renewability of coverage. Over 20 million people have benefited from this law.
It is especially important that we work to strengthen health care delivery systems for the uninsured and provide affordable, quality health care coverage for everyone -- especially children, the elderly, working families, minority groups, and small businesses.
This year, I was an original cosponsor of the Small Employer Health Benefits Program legislation, which would provide health insurance to the millions of Americans working for small businesses. There are over 45 million uninsured Americans in the United States - 85 percent are in working families, and 60 percent work for small businesses employing fewer than 100 employees. This legislation would allow small businesses to band together, pool their risks, and offer their employees health coverage for much less expensive rates.
I also support legislative initiatives to protect the rights and benefits of patients who are enrolled in managed care and other types of health care plans; and I have been involved in efforts to craft a bipartisan managed care reform bill that can be enacted by the Congress. We must ensure that all Americans have decent health care plans with essential patient protections, such as guaranteed access to needed health care specialists; access to emergency room services when and where the need arises; continuity of care protections to assure patient care if a patient's health care provider is dropped; access to a timely internal and independent external appeals process with a medical necessity standard; assurance that doctors and patients can openly discuss treatment options; and an enforcement mechanism that ensures appropriate recourse for patients who have been harmed as a result of health plan actions and that holds health plans accountable for decisions that result in patient injury or death.
In addition, I am supportive of comprehensive efforts to create a better health information technology (IT) infrastructure in our country. Health IT legislation could result in cost savings for the system and an increase in the quality of care delivered around the country. I am also paying close attention to legislative initiatives to bring pay-for-performance to Medicare, which would result in payments to physicians based on delivering high-quality care to their patients. Improving the quality of care delivered to Americans is essential in decreasing medical errors and may also result in a significant cost savings for our health care system. However, these efforts must be comprehensive, well funded, and thoughtful to ensure that positive impacts are experienced by Americans.
Expanding access to health care for Americans will involve safeguarding the successful Medicaid program and improving the quality of medical care in our country which can make our health care systems more effective and efficient. I continue to fight against cuts to the Medicaid program. My FairCare legislation assures quality of care for all by setting quality standards for medical care, rewarding health professionals for practicing these standards, and increasing transparency of health care practices by creating the conditions for an electronic health record that can be analyzed for the quality of care received. By improving the quality of care in this country, we can save approximately $30 billion a year. More importantly, we can reduce suffering and save lives.
As the Senate focuses attention on health care quality, affordability, accessibility, and related matters, you can be assured that I will keep in mind your specific thoughts and suggestions; and I will continue to fight for strong patient protections and health care plan accountability and affordability to benefit all of our nation's citizens.
My official Senate web site is designed to be an on-line office that provides access to constituent services, xxx*-specific information, and an abundance of information about what I am working on in the Senate on behalf of Connecticut and the nation. I am also pleased to let you know that I have launched an email news update service through my web site. You can sign up for that service by visiting ...* and clicking on the "Subscribe Email News Updates" button at the bottom of the home page. I hope these are informative and useful.
Thank you again for letting me know your views and concerns. Please contact me if you have any additional questions or comments about our work in Congress.
Sincerely,
xxx*
