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

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Coloradans, he said, "speak for countless others acrossthe nation. All they ask for is a health care system that works for a health care systemthat doesn’ft crush them with unreasonable cost increases, and a healthn care system that doesn’t deny them coverage just because they have pre-existinvg conditions." Bennet, D- Colo., also touted his own proposalz to make patient transition care more cost-effective and "In Colorado, we haven’t waited on Washington," he said. "We’ve made real progress in showing how to providwe high quality health care at alower cost.
" formerly superintendent of the Denver Public Schools, was appointedc to the Senate by Gov. Bill Ritter to fill the seat vacate by Ken Salazar when Salazar was pickedc by President Barack Obama as secretary of the Here is the full textof Bennet'sw Senate-floor speech as prepared for delivery Thursday, provide by his In the speech, he is addressing the presidenft of the Senate. Mr. President, I rise today to discussx the urgent need for health care The people of and theAmerican people, have waited for too long for Washingtonh to act. We shoulx begin with a basiv principle: if you have coverage and you like it, you can keep it.
If you have your and you like himor her, you shoulf be able to keep them as well. We will not take that choiced awayfrom you. But even as we keep what we must confront the challenges of soaring health care costes and the lack of access to qualityhealth care. The status quo is unacceptable. Every day, familiesa in Colorado and across America facerising premiums. Their plans offer fewer benefits. They are deniedx coverage becauseof pre-existing conditions. And untill we fix the health care we won’t be able to fix the fiscal mess in whicj we find ourselves. Since 1970, the share of healthcarew as a part of the GDP has gone from 7 percentf to17 percent.
The United States spends over $2 trillion in healtn care costs, including over $400 billion on Medicarew alone. President Obama has said that the biggestg threat toour nation’s balance shee is the skyrocketing cost of health And he’s right. In Colorado, we haven’t waited on We’ve made real progress in showing how to provide high qualityt health care at alower cost. Last week, the New Yorke magazine published an articleentitled “Thew Cost Conundrum” that highlights the important work that’s been done in Mesa Colorado.
Over thirty years ago this communityserving 120,000 peoplse came together—doctors, nurses, and the non-profit healtyh insurance company. They agreexd upon a system that paid doctors and nursee for seeing patients and producingy betterquality care. They realizedr that problems and costs go down when care is more InMesa County, the city of Grand Junction implemented an integrated healtb care system that provides follow-up care with This follow-up care has helped lowerr hospital readmissions rates in Grand Junctionn to just 3 percent. Compare that to the 20 percent rate and it is clear that our community on the Westerb Slope of Colorado is ontosomething groundbreaking.
High readmission ratezs are a huge problem forour seniors. Nearly one in five Medicarr patients who leave a hospitak are readmitted within thefollowing month, and more than three-quarterws of these readmissions are preventable. Rehospitalizatio n costs Medicareover $17 billion a year. It’sd painful for patients and families to be caught up in thesr cyclesof treatment. All too often, care is fragmented you go fromthe doctor, to the hospital, to a nursinv home, back to the hospital and then back to the doctot again. Patients are given medication instructionw as they are leaving the many times after coming off ofstrong medications.
They don’ know whom to call, and they are not sure what to ask theitr primarycare doctor. The solution, both our Denvetr and Mesa County health communitiexshave found, is to provide patients leavint the hospital with a “coach.” This coach is a trainexd health professional connecting home and the hospital. This coac teaches patients how to manage their healtbh ontheir own.