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| January 18, 2005 |
| Bill Frist on Health Care |
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| Health care -- Over the next few months I need to do a much better job having our policy makers better understand that the cost of health care is now dominating the major challenges Americans face on the domestic front. It drives the uninsured, the out-of-control Medicaid and state budgets, the huge unfunded liability we force on our children in Medicare (4x that of Social Security), our international competitiveness, and the list goes on. It will dominate the domestic agenda -- or it should over the next several years. |
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| To that point, I continue to paint a vision that we might all agree to -- one that is not perfect but, I believe, is the direction that is fair, bold, and realistic. Click here for the article. This week, the New England Journal of Medicine will publish this article that I wrote entitled ''Health Care in the 21st Century'' and I want you to be among the first to see this advanced copy -- which will be embargoed until January 20. |
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| The article outlines my vision for a more patient-centered, consumer-driven, provider-friendly health care system, and includes a series of specific policy changes designed to get us there over the next ten years. It is based on the Shattuck lecture which I was honored to deliver last year before the Massachusetts Medical Society (Yes, I still present at and attend medical meetings, publish in medical journals, operate in hospitals, value my profession -- it's been 20 years in medicine and only 10 in the senate). |
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| Under the leadership of President Bush and the Republican Congress, we already have begun to address needed reforms. During the last Congress, for example, we pushed through legislation to make more affordable, portable Health Savings Accounts available to all Americans. And you will we see us accomplishing more in the upcoming 109th Congress. |
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| I plan to focus on those initiatives that will help drive down health costs and give all patients greater information, choice and control over their own health care choices and hard-earned dollars. These include medical lawsuit abuse reform, individually-owned electronic health records, and expanding Health Savings Accounts so that more people can take advantage of them. |
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| Let me know your reactions to the article. |
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| Bill Frist |
| Reprinted from Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's Email Update |
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