Klobuchar touts Mayo model
Meg Alexander — Staff WriterArticle Photos
FAIRMONT - The U.S. House of Representatives may have passed its version of health care reform, but the Senate is just beginning the process, predicts Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
"We could easily have the vote before Christmas, but there will be a lot of work around the clock on this," Klobuchar on Monday in Fairmont.
She was in town touting the Mayo model for its quality care and low cost as she met with leadership at Fairmont Medical Center.
"Anybody can cut the cost of health care," said Dr. Philip Vuocolo, CEO and surgeon at the medical center. "The real challenge is to cut the cost and raise the value."
Klobuchar agreed, adding: "Safety is a big part of health care reform."
Fairmont Medical Center, she said, proves that higher-quality care at lower costs can work in rural areas as well - a concern some have voiced with reforming the system.
"We are ripe and anxious for some type of health care reform for obvious reasons," said administrator Stephen Pribyl.
With Fairmont's rural location and aging population, a large number of people are on Medicare and Medicaid.
"The prediction of population change in Fairmont is a 4.4 percent reduction," Pribyl said. "We're not bringing in new, young businesses, and the rest of us are having birthdays."
Meanwhile, Mayo is losing money because of Medicare and Medicaid rebates; something Klobuchar wants changed.
"My No. 1 goal is to get cost reform in there," Klobuchar said, complaining that federal dollars are being funneled to states like Florida, where health care costs are notoriously high and services notoriously low.
Minnesota, in contrast, is used as a shining example for its efficiency.
"When you hear stories about the waste ... you know there's ways to make it run better," Klobuchar said.
The trick is to find a middle ground, to avoid punishing states with low costs.
She cited a Dartmouth study showing the United States could save $50 billion every five years if the southern part of the country used the same model as Mayo.
Data from the Congressional Budget Office also was used to promote the legislation. The office predicts the bill would trim $127 billion off the deficit in 10 years, and $650 billion in 20 years.
"The whole purpose is to increase competition and reduce cost," Klobuchar said.
This would be done by creating an exchange of private insurance companies that cross state lines.
Before she approves the bill, Klobuchar wants to make sure it addresses cost reform, so smaller companies can buy in together.
She used her own health care as a legislator as an example of how the public option would help small businesses.
"We're able to get better deals because there's so many people," she said.
There are other issues Klobuchar would like to see in the bill too, including:
o Loan forgiveness for medical students' debts, in order to encourage them to practice in rural areas facing physician shortages;
o Bundling payments, as opposed to charging fees for each service.
"I really think there are some legislative things to debate," she said.
If the Senate passes the bill, committee work will begin to find a compromise both legislative branches can agree on. The pressure is on to move quickly, before election-year campaigning in 2010 interferes with the process.
Reforming the system, Klobuchar predicted, will not end once the legislation is signed into effect.
"Long-term care is the elephant in the room that no one is dealing with," she said. "So we're starting with this bill, but there's more work to do."
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Sissetonian
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11-24-09 9:13 PM
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Nice photo-op... I hope the Police Chief had some insight into "Health Care Reform"
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blue5011
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11-24-09 9:11 AM
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It is nice to know one of my senators can show up in MN. Now if she told me that she read the senate bill she is so in favor of and understood it...
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jtpr1944
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11-24-09 8:22 AM
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I just wonder if Klobuchar is willing to take any medical program/insurance that is the same as what they will come up with or just keep her Caddilac program given to her and paid for by the taxpaers???
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