U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski's take on health care reform is that it's absolutely necessary -- but she's worried that Congress is trying to do too much too fast. Proposals on the table so far, she says, would hurt small businesses and not improve conditions for Medicare recipients, among other problems. Murkowski, who spoke at a Commonwealth North forum in Anchorage on Tuesday, proposes breaking health care reform into pieces and approving them one at a time.
As a first item, Congress could work to achieve cost savings by emphasizing preventive care, she said. Taking better care of people with chronic conditions -- and keeping them out of medical crises -- would save money, she said.
Sen. Murkowski, a Republican and member of the Senate minority, is a thoughtful critic of the Democratic-led health care reform process. But America has been addressing health care in a piecemeal manner for a long time, and that hasn't gotten us anywhere near where we need to be. We still have the highest cost system in the world, and far from the best. Our infant mortality rate is higher than other industrialized countries, our life expectancy is lower and our rates of preventable deaths are higher.
Part of the reason is that so many people -- an estimated 46 million -- don't have insurance, and don't get the care they should.
It's going to take dramatic action to turn this pitiful situation around. Congress should persevere and approve comprehensive health care reform. Sen. Murkowski and her colleagues need to keeping moving forward with all deliberate speed -- carefully enough to avoid adopting ill-considered ideas, but not so slowly that special interests have time to construct roadblocks and make mischief.
Sen. Murkowski raises some valid concerns. But that doesn't mean Congress should tackle reform bit by bit. We've done that in the past, and it hasn't worked.
BOTTOM LINE: America's health care costs too much and isn't good enough. Congress should move ahead with major reform.
Not far apart
Alaska's two senators agree on basic goals in health debate
At a Commonwealth North forum, Sen. Lisa Murkowski was asked how she and Sen. Mark Begich can have such different stands on health care reform.
Murkowski said the two Alaska senators agree on the outcome they'd like to see. Their points of agreement amount to more than you might think.
Both say health care reform should contain costs, make health care accessible to more people, and improve what Murkowski calls "the delivery system."
Specifically, they both have said they support a model of health care in which nurses, dieticians, physician's assistants and other professionals take a more active role in treating patients, along with doctors.
That's an excellent idea, and anything Congress can do to make such a change happen, it should.
Murkowski and Begich both slammed the opponents of health care reform who are making up scary stories that are not true, such as that senior citizens would have to face a board that decides end-of-life measures.
"It does us no good to incite fear in people by saying there are death panels," said Murkowski. "I'm so offended by that terminology. ..."
We couldn't have said it better.
The two Alaska senators disagree on whether reducing the cost of medical malpractice lawsuits is an important part of health care reform -- Murkowski says yes, Begich no. That's a subject for further study, but shouldn't hold up other reforms.
Both U.S. senators, in different ways, are looking out for their Alaska constituents on health care reform, and not simply aligning themselves with their political parties.
BOTTOMLINE: Murkowski and Begich agree some big changes need to take place in our health care system.