Tom Harkin: “for more than a decade, I have spoken out about the need to fundamentally reorient our approach to health care in…”

“for more than a decade, I have spoken out about the need to fundamentally reorient our approach to health care in America--to reorient it towards prevention, wellness and self care. I don't think you'll find too many people who would argue with the statement that if you get sick, the best place in the world to get the care you need is here in America. We have the best trained, highest- skilled health professionals in the world. We have cutting-edge, state- of-the-art equipment and technology. We have world-class health care facilities and research institutions. But, when it comes to helping people stay healthy and stay out of the hospital, we fall woefully short. In the U.S., we spend in excess of $1.8 trillion a year on health care. Fully 75 percent of that total is accounted for by chronic diseases--things like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. And what these diseases have in common is that--in so many cases--they are preventable. In the United States, we fail to make an up-front investment in prevention. So we end up spending hundreds of billions on hospitalization, treatment, and disability. This is foolish--and, clearly, it is unsustainable. In fact, I've long said that we don't have a health care system here in America, we have a ``sick care'' system. And it is costing us dearly both in terms of health care costs and premature deaths. Consider the cost of major chronic diseases--diseases that, as I said, are so often preventable.…”