Senate Proceeding on Jul 30th, 2009 :: 0:39:40 to 0:49:20
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0:39:40 to 0:49:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Amy Klobuchar

0:39:44 to 0:40:05( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: quorum call: ms. klobuchar: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from ms. klobuchar: madam presidt, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: madam president, i ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding offir: without objection. ms. klobuchar: madam president, hea a very personal matter for me, a personal matter for so many people in my state. i first got interested in this

0:40:06 to 0:40:27( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: did, after something happened to me when my daughter was born. she was born, she was very sick, she couldn't swallow. and back then the insurance companies had a rule that new kied out after it 4 hours. so after she was in care, i was kicked out of the hospital in 24 hours.

0:40:28 to 0:40:51( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: as my husband wheeled me out in the wheelchair, i rember thinking, this wouldn't have happened to the wife of the head of the insurance company. but it happened to me. and i went to the legislature along with others to say we to change this to ensure mothers and their new babies at least a 48-hour hospital stay.

0:40:52 to 0:41:12( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: that new law was passed after president bill clinton was elected. i remember going there and some of the insurance companies that were there trying to make sure it was delayed and the implementation of this 48-hour rule. so i decided to take all the pregnant women that i knew the conference committee and we outnumbered the lobbyists 2-1. so when the legislature said,

0:41:13 to 0:41:33( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: when should this new law take effect, garntling new moms and their babies 48 hours, all the pregnant moms said "no." and -- all the pregnantnant moms said "now." and that is what happened. as i travel my state, i've heard about the importance of doing something about health care. they want cost-effective health care. we've got one of the best health

0:41:34 to 0:41:54( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: care systems in the the president has lauded minute membership. we've got something like -- the president has lauded minnesota. we've got something like 99% some say we can't have the status quo because our premiums are going up and up and up. if i lose my job, i'm not going

0:41:55 to 0:42:15( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: to have health care tomorrow. that's what the people in my state are saying. i've heard it from people like dawn in staples, minnesota, who is having trouble being able to afford her prescription drugs for her m.s. or john who ends up paying

0:42:16 to 0:42:37( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: thousands of dollars in deductibles and coinsurance if one of his boys meanwhil a new study finds that small businesses pay up to more than 18% -- 18% more -- to provide health insurance for their emploes, often forcing these businesses to lay off employees or cut back on their coverage.

0:42:38 to 0:43:00( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: i was up in two harbor, minnesota, about a month ago visiting backpack companies that's done amazing things. they're actually making some of the backpacks now for our troops in iraq and afghanistan. and they said that their health care premiums now are something like $20,000 for a family of four. small

0:43:01 to 0:43:22( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: much, one family for health care insurance. i was down in southern minnesota in the southeastern corner of our state and met with one of the clinic heads there, someone who heads up one of the hospitals in wisconsin and minnesota. he said they'd had three emergency appendectomies in just a two-week time period and they

0:43:23 to 0:43:43( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: shouldn't have happened at that time. they should have been caught earlier. when they talked to the people in the emergency rooms, they said, why are you here? two said we're with small businesses and we thought that if we came in too early thought maybe we could just get over this because we were afraid of what it would do to the premiums. the third person said, well, i just didn't have the known pay for this.

0:43:44 to 0:44:05( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: that's what we're hearing over our state, in a state that tends to have one of the best health care sys country. the american people know that inaction is n if we do not act, costs will continue to skyrocket and 14,000 americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day. that's the status quo.

0:44:06 to 0:44:26( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: we must not waiver in our efforts to enact a american solution to our nation's health care problems. we must keep what works and fix what's broken. we must also level the playing field between consumers and insurance companies, preserve choice, expand some access and provide safeguards so that

0:44:27 to 0:44:47( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: people don't lose t if job, have preexisting medical conditions or simply gro as we prepare to take up landmark legislation, many in washington are looking to minnesota as a national leader. in minnesota, we have developed a health care system that rewards quality, not quantity.

0:44:48 to 0:45:09( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: it promotes integrated care, and it focuses management and controls costs. that's why we tend to have healthier people in our state. that's why we tend to have more people covered. that's why we tend to have more higher-quality h because we focus on the system as a whole. the congressional budget office doug elmendorf testified before

0:45:10 to 0:45:31( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: the senate budget committee that to truly contain health care spending, congress must change the way that providers in an effort to encourage cost effectiveness in health i couldn't agree more. shifting to a value-based system is critical to controlling health care costs. because you know what? people will be shocked by this. when you look at states that have some of the highest

0:45:32 to 0:45:55( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: quality, it tends to be some of the lowest costs. and states that have the highest costs tend to have the lowest quality care. that is messed up. most health care is purchased on a fee-for-service basis. so m if not done appropriately with the patient in mind can mean more money.

0:45:56 to 0:46:17( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: korgtd researchers medical school nearly a year is spent on unnecessary health care. that is 30% of total health care spending. to rein in costs, we have all health care providers aiming for high-quality, cost-effective results as they do in minnesota. that's why i've legislation along with senator martinez that would create a

0:46:18 to 0:46:38( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: value index as part of a formula used to determine medicare's fee schedule. this indexing will help r unnecessary procedures because those who produce more volume will need or the increased volume will negatively impact fees. to correct myself, that legislation was actually introduced with senator gregg

0:46:39 to 0:46:59( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: and senator introduced a bill to focus on medicare fraud. nking rewards to the outcomes for the entire payment area creates the physicians and hospitals to work together to improve quality and efficiency. in too many places patients must struggle against a fragmented delivery system where providers'

0:47:00 to 0:47:21( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: duplicative services sometimes work at cross-purposes. we must also look at other areas where we can help reduce inefficient health care spending, because in the end this is about quality care and getting that care to the patients that need it. it's focusing on the patients instead of all the insurance providers and all the other people that feed off this system. it's focusingn what works best

0:47:22 to 0:47:42( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: for the patients. recent studies show if all the hospitals in the country followed the protocol that the mayo clinic uses in the last four years of chronically i patients' lives where t index is incredibly high, i think most people and their families would lo clinic health care, if we used

0:47:43 to 0:48:04( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: that model it would save $50 billion every five years and that money can be used to bring more people into that money can be used to make health care more affordable for the people of this country. that's what we're talking about when we talk about health care re the bill that we have, medicare costs and medicare fraud that i have with senator martinez,

0:48:05 to 0:48:26( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: would require direct depositing of all payments to providers under medicare and again, so people are off the system, they're not scamming the system. it's going to the people that need it. the bill has been endorsed by the aarp, the national association of district attorneys and the credit union national association. representative patrick murphy is carrying the legislation in the house.

0:48:27 to 0:48:47( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: it is no small task, but we mt reform america's health system. i strongly believe that reaching this goal, reaching this goal of reform, making sure that we just don't have the status quo where it's becoming harder and harder this country to afford health care, it depends upon controlling costs, rewarding quality, stopping fraud, and making the system wor for the

0:48:48 to 0:49:08( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: people of t for the sake of our fiscal health and for million to afford the care they need, tphafbgting effective health care reform in this country is we know it's not easy. it's not going to happen overnight. but we also know that doing

0:49:09 to 0:49:20( Edit History Discussion )

Amy Klobuchar: nothing and just saying no to everything and calng things names when we're effectively tr wrong way to go. so i hope that my colleagues in the senate will start working on this bill constructively so we can get something done for the