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U.S.
Senator Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees |
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For Immediate
Release Monday, June 16, 2008 |
CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-228-3630 |
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| Sen.
Salazar and Sen. Finance Committee Hold National Bipartisan Health Care
Summit to Gear Up for Reform WASHINGTON, DC – In its continued effort to lay a bipartisan groundwork for legislation to reform America’s health care system and to improve access and care for all Americans, today the Senate Finance Committee convened national leaders and health policy experts to discuss options for health care reform in 2009. The day-long summit featured remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, a plenary session moderated by Senator Salazar, and various panels on international health systems, insurance market reform, health care spending and state-based reform. “The health care crisis facing Colorado and our country is one of the greatest challenges of our time,” said Senator Salazar. “As health care costs continue to skyrocket and the number of uninsured continues to grow, we need to work our way toward solutions that give Americans better access to quality and affordable health care. Today’s summit helps us lay the bipartisan groundwork for the broad health care reform legislation that we will be assembling over the coming year. Today’s candid discussions, including the discussion with Chairman Bernanke of the economic repercussions of the health care crisis, signal that the Finance Committee aims to take a pragmatic, bipartisan approach to health care reform. With so much at stake, the type of collaboration we had today is vital to our success.” In Colorado, 800,000 people- almost 20 percent of the population- do not have health insurance. 180,000 of the uninsured in Colorado are children. Chairman of Colorado’s 208 Blue Ribbon Commission for Health Care Reform, Bill Lindsay, participated in the panel highlighting state-based reform efforts. The 208 Commission is a diverse group of 27 commissioners from broad array of backgrounds that convened to evaluate different approaches to comprehensive health reform in Colorado. Earlier this year, the commission submitted a package of 32 recommendations for comprehensive reform to the Colorado General Assembly. In his testimony, Bill Lindsay said, “We appreciate the interest you have shown in our efforts. Although many have asserted that the states need to be the laboratories for health care reform, it is clear to us that we needs keys to unlock the laboratory door….In this regard, we note that a more coordinated and unified federal approach would unify state reforms efforts, which must otherwise navigate through a maze of disparate laws and multiple agencies.” “In the end, [the Commission] did not view our job as presenting a simplistic solution to a problem that is intertwined with layers of complexity. Rather, we recognized that we were given the opportunity to “jump-start” the debate, and have tried to create a foundation for informed policy-making in the coming years. In that light, the federal environment in which this discussion must occur is critical, and we appreciate [the Finance Committee’s] willingness to consider [these] issues.” “Colorado’s 208 Commission has been a national leader in finding solutions to the health care crisis that plagues Colorado and our country,” added Salazar. “Around the country, states are looking at the work they have done as a blueprint for action. I am extremely pleased that they were able to participate in today’s national summit, because their ideas – and their approach to health care reform – can help guide our federal reform efforts.” The summit also featured
a panel on lessons learned from international health systems; the panel
focused on health care systems in the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany,
Taiwan, and Switzerland. Today’s summit followed a series of three hearings
over the last two months in the Senate Finance Committee on various
aspects of the health care crisis in America.
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