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State Representative Kim Norton
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-9249
For more information contact: Matt Swenson 651-297-8406
NEWS COLUMN
GETTING REFORM DONE RIGHT
I remember baking cookies as a little girl with my grandmother. We would mix the ingredients, stir the dough, and together we would carefully place each piece on the cookie sheet and decorate it meticulously before sliding it into the oven. I was always so excited - I wanted the cookies to be done right away. But she knew intuitively when the cookies were just right. By her example I learned the value of patience, and came to understand the steps needed for a job well done.
Today Americans are anticipating with renewed excitement the prospect of health care reform efforts decades in the making. For more than fifty years our patience has been tried as insurance premiums, health care costs, and prescription drug prices have continued to skyrocket and 47 million American men, women, and children - including over 400,000 Minnesotans - have faced the troubling uncertainty of a life without coverage.
It’s clear this country and our state are ready for reform. As tens of thousands of Minnesotans and millions of Americans have lost their jobs and their employer-based health insurance, we now realize more than ever that responsible reform is absolutely critical to the health of our people and the future of our economy. But like baking cookies with my grandmother, we need to do it together and make sure we do it right.
Congress has made significant progress thus far on an historic health insurance reform effort that will lower costs for the more than 90 percent of Americans who do have coverage, and extend insurance options to those who don’t. In a shared effort for bipartisan compromise that brings all ideas to the table, President Obama and the nation’s lawmakers have been working together on a sustainable solution to effectively address the challenges that have put affordable coverage and care out of reach.
But the product isn’t ready just yet and many around the country are weighing in with suggestions for a successful reform which would include prevention, quality measures and payment reform, and affordable private and public insurance options.
President Obama and Congress have made a conscious effort to consider the most effective and efficient models for health care reform across the country by asking state lawmakers, health care providers, and citizens across the nation to weigh in on the solution. In that effort, considerable attention has been focused on nation-leading reforms passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 2008. More locally, the President himself has noted Rochester’s Mayo Clinic as a national model for low cost quality care - and for good reason.
For decades the Mayo Clinic has fueled our local, regional and state economy while leading the country in providing more innovative, cost-effective means of providing quality health care. Mayo has crafted and implemented a health care system based on collaborative relationships in which doctors and patients are treated with respect, and quality of care takes precedent over quantity. The results have been unprecedented, creating some of the best health care outcomes in the world.
But the current health care system penalizes Mayo for the good results this model produces. The hospital loses money because Medicare reimbursements are delivered based on how often a patient receives care or how many procedures are done rather than the quality of care delivered. Since Mayo’s focus on quality produces more healthy outcomes, patients come back for treatment less often - resulting in lower reimbursement rates for the hospital itself.
President Obama has recognized publicly that penalizing quality health care institutions like Mayo for producing positive, cost-effective results simply doesn’t make sense. Fifty-five members of the Minnesota Legislature, including myself, have come to the same conclusion. We sent a letter to Minnesota’s congressional delegation just weeks ago urging Congress to consider how to implement Medicare payment reform to more effectively incentivize quality, low-cost health care; reforms that support our state efforts and our medical institutions nation-leading efforts.
Members of Minnesota’s delegation agree, and are currently working in both houses of Congress to ensure places like Mayo in our state and others are not penalized for positive results. We must let the ideas mix until the proper recipe has been found and wait with anticipation of a successful outcome…like my grandma’s cookies - they always were better.
I believe the time for health care reform is almost here. But, it is critically important that we do it right by ensuring the reforms we adopt today provide high-quality, low-cost results for every patient. In the weeks ahead all Minnesotans have a responsibility to remain patient and engaged in the debate that will shape our nation’s health care system for years to come. Together we can build a healthier future for Minnesota, and all Americans.
Kim Norton
State Representative
District 29B
(651) 296-9249
rep.kim.norton@house.mn
News Items
- Rep. Norton Selected as Vice Chair of House Health and Human Services Finance Committee - (Posted: 2012-12-14 00:00:00)
- It’s Time for Legislature to Get Back to Basics, Balance the Budget Honestly - (Posted: 2012-12-11 00:00:00)
- Second Saturday Coffee Meeting Date Changed to December 9 - (Posted: 2012-12-03 00:00:00)
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