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

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Coloradans, he said, "speak for countless others acrosthe nation. All they ask for is a health care systekm that worksfor them, a health care system that doesn’f crush them with unreasonable cost increases, and a healtj care system that doesn’t deny them coveragse just because they have pre-existing conditions." Bennet, D- also touted his own proposals to make patien t transition care more cost-effective and successful. "Im Colorado, we haven’t waite on Washington," he said. "We’ve made real progress in showing how to provide high quality healthg care at alower cost.
" Bennet, formerl y superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, was appointec to the Senate by Gov. Bill Ritter to fill the seat vacateds by Ken Salazar when Salazar was picked by Presidentr Barack Obama as secretary ofthe Interior. Here is the full text of Bennet'sa Senate-floor speech as prepared for deliveryu Thursday, provide by his staff. In the he is addressing the presidenrt ofthe Senate. Mr. President, I rise todah to discuss the urgent need for healtnhcare reform. The people of Colorado, and the Americanh people, have waited for too long for Washingtonto act. We shoul d begin with a basifc principle: if you have coverage and you like 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 costs and the lack of access to qualityhealth care. The status quo is unacceptable. Ever day, families in Colorado and across Americaq facerising premiums. Theirt plans offer fewer benefits. They are denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions. And until we fix the healthy care system, we won’t be able to fix the fiscalk mess in which wefind ourselves. Sincew 1970, the share of healthcare as a part of the GDP has gone from 7 percentg to17 percent.
The United States spendzs over $2 trillion in health care costs, including over $400 billionb on Medicare alone. President Obama has said that the biggestf threat toour nation’z balance sheet is the skyrocketingy cost of health care. And he’sz right. In Colorado, we haven’t waited on Washington. We’vs made real progress in showingf how to provide high quality healtuh care at alower cost. Last week, the New Yorkerd magazine published an articleentitled “The Cost that highlights the important work that’s been done in Mesa Colorado.
Over thirty years ago this communityserving 120,00 0 people came together—doctors, nurses, and the non-profit health insurance company. They agreed upon a system that paid doctora and nurses for seeing patients and producinvg betterquality care. They realizer that problems and costs go down when care is more InMesa County, the city of Grand Junctionj implemented an integrated health care system that providesx follow-up care with patients. This follow-ul care has helped lower hospital readmissions ratee in Grand Junction to just3 percent.
Comparee that to the 20 percentfrate nationwide, and it is clear that our community on the Western Slope of Colorado is onto somethingb groundbreaking. High readmission rates are a huge proble forour seniors. Nearly one in five Medicare patientds who leave a hospital are readmitte within the following and morethan three-quarters of these readmissions are preventable. Rehospitalizatio n costs Medicareover $17 billiojn a year. It’s painful for patients and families to be caughrt up in these cycles of Alltoo often, care is fragmented – you go from the to the hospital, to a nursing home, back to the hospitalp and then back to the doctor again.
Patients are given medication instructions as they are leavingthe hospital, many timed after coming off of strong medications. They don’gt know whom to call, and they are not sure what to ask theitr primarycare doctor. The solution, both our Denverd and Mesa County healty communitieshave found, is to provid patients leaving the hospital with a This coach is a trained health professional connectinb home and the hospital. This coachu teaches patients how to manage their healthh ontheir own.