Costs and Insurance

We all know that medical costs are going up just as peoples’ ability to pay is going down. This is true throughout the Panhandle and is especially true in Escambia County. Lately, even people fortunate enough to have health insurance are finding it difficult to afford their skyrocketing premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. All too often, they learn after the fact that they were underinsured — that the maximum their insurance would pay for a catastrophic or chronic illness would not even come close to covering the cost of the needed care.

Prevention & Public Health

A contributing factor in this complex problem is that our health care system has failed miserably in the areas of prevention and public health. One in four Americans is now obese, and the overall incidence of life-style related chronic diseases is nothing short of alarming.

In these days of international terrorism and climate change, it is also imperative that we prepare for new threats like pandemic flu and bio terrorism. In spite of the fact that spending on prevention and public health should actually save taxpayers money in the long run, only a tiny percentage of every health care dollar is spent on these two areas.

Quality Control & Streamlining

More also needs to be done in the areas of ensuring the quality of care (including reducing the number of accidental deaths in hospitals) and modernizing and streamlining both paper and computer information systems. Such streamlining should specifically be designed to support new disease management and team or integrated care programs, which should also improve quality of care and lower costs.

My Priorities

I will work hard in Congress to see that every American has access to affordable, good-quality, portable health care. I will also fight hard to see that our policies and programs are designed and operated in ways that benefit the people rather than the big corporations and special interest groups.