Thank you for contacting me regarding our health care system. I appreciate having your comments and welcome the opportunity to respond.
There is no denying that our health care system is in dire need of reform. The soaring cost of medical care is crippling our economy, bankrupting our nation’s families, and becoming an unsustainable financial burden for American employers. In the last eight years, health care premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and there are nearly 46 million uninsured Americans - the majority of whom are employed. It’s tragic that in a country of great wealth like ours so many of our fellow Americans don’t have access to care; and that the uninsured are suffering from avoidable illnesses and receiving expensive medical care too late the cost of which gets passed on to the rest of us.
I am pleased to see my colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee and on the Finance Committee leading the health reform effort in the Senate. There are still many tough issues to resolve in the health care debate, including insurance coverage mandates, whether a public program will compete with private insurers, and how to pay for it. While theses topics are still being deliberated in committee hearings and roundtable discussions, the highest priorities for Congress and health industry leaders are protecting patient choice of care,Bull feces! curbing skyrocketing health costs, and expanding coverage for the uninsured.
Although I am hopeful that significant reform will be enacted by the end of this year, you should know that Congress has already passed several measures that have improved access to care for children and struggling families. In January, I voted for Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2), which will provide 4.1 million additional low-income children with quality health care coverage.
I was also pleased that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), enacted in February, included extended unemployment health benefits coverage as well as funds for cost saving health care initiatives like health information technology (health IT).
Addressing our nation’s health care crisis will be no small feat for Congress; but it will only get worse the longer we ignore it. Our nation's long term financial health requires a balance between family coverage needs and viable financing from businesses and the government. The current tenuous situation necessitates action on healthcare reform now. I look forward to working with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to find a fiscally responsible solution for the health of Americans and our nation’s economy, and I am hopeful that we will have significant reform enacted by the end of this year.
All best,
Senator Claire McCaskill
Typical staff form response, but I’m curious — “All best”, is that a correct C&P or was “the” somehow left out? I’ve never ever heard/received just “All best” as the closing.
With all due respect to the Senator, socializing health care is not going to make anything better. Why do so many people from Canada come to the United States to get care if it works so well? After this passes we'll be forced to go to foreign countries where they still respect the free market. Thanks for nothing McCaskill and the rest of the clowns in Washington.