Bennet cites Colorado examples in Senate plea for health-care reform - Wichita Business Journal:

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Coloradans, he said, "speak for countlesds others acrossthe nation. All they ask for is a healtuh care system that worksfor them, a health care syste that doesn’t crush them with unreasonable cost and a health care system that doesn’r deny them coverage just because they have pre-existint conditions." Bennet, D- Colo., also touted his own proposals to make patien t transition care more cost-effectiv and successful. "In Colorado, we haven’t waited on he said. "We’ve made real progress in showing how to providse high quality health care at alower cost." formerly superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, was appointed to the Senate by Gov.
Bill Ritterd to fill the seat vacated by Ken Salazar when Salazae was picked by President Barack Obama as secretary of the Here is the full textof Bennet'x Senate-floor speech as prepared for delivery Thursday, providr by his staff. In the speech, he is addressing the president ofthe Senate. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the urgent need for healtcare reform. The people of and the American people, have waited for too long for Washingtojnto act. We should begihn with a basic if you have coverage and youlike it, you can keep it. If you have your and you like himor her, you should 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 costxs and the lack of accesszto affordable, quality health care. The statud quo is unacceptable. Every day, families in Colorado and acros America facerising premiums. Their plans offer fewer They are denied coverage becauseof pre-existing And until we fix the health care system, we won’f be able to fix the fiscalk mess in which we find Since 1970, the sharre of healthcare as a part of the GDP has gone from 7 percenyt to 17 percent. The United Statesa spends over $2 trillion in healty care costs, including over $400 billionb on Medicare alone.
Presideny Obama has said that the biggest threat toour nation’s balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of healt h care. And he’s In Colorado, we haven’t waited on Washington. We’ve made real progresse in showing how to provide high quality health care at alower cost. Last week, the New Yorke magazine published an articlentitled “The Cost Conundrum” that highlights the important work that’sz been done in Mesa Colorado. Over thirty years ago this communityserving 120,000 people came together—doctors, nurses, and the non-profit healty insurance company.
They agreed upon a system that paid doctors and nursess for seeing patients and producing betterquality care. They realized that problems and costs go down when care is more InMesa County, the city of Grand Junctio n implemented an integrated health care systemj that provides follow-up care with This follow-up care has helped lower hospital readmissions rates in Granfd Junction to just 3 percent. Compar e that to the 20 percentrate nationwide, and it is cleae that our community on the Western Slope of Colorado is onto something groundbreaking. High readmissio n rates are a huge problem forour seniors.
Nearlyt one in five Medicare patientas who leave a hospital are readmittex within thefollowing month, and more than three-quarterw of these readmissions are Rehospitalization costs Medicare over $17 billionh a year. It’s painful for patients and familiee to be caught up in these cyclewsof treatment. All too often, care is fragmented you go fromthe doctor, to the to a nursing home, back to the hospital and then back to the doctorr again. Patients are given medication instructionsw as they are leavingthe hospital, many times aftef coming off of strong They don’t know whom to call, and they are not sure what to ask theird primary care doctor.
The both our Denver and Mesa County health communitiedshave found, is to provide patients leavinfg the hospital with a “coach.” This coac is a trained health professional connecting home and the This coach teaches patients how to manage their health on theier own.