Political Quotes

“In 1996 Congress passed landmark legislation, and most of us know it as Kennedy/Kassebaum or HIPAA, that answered several difficult questions: How do we minimize coverage disruptions and barriers in the private health insurance market? How do we improve the efficiency of health care financing and delivery in the United States? The gentlemen from my home State of Ohio (Mr. Sawyer) and (Mr. Hobson) took on the second question. They championed commonsense provisions in HIPAA that ensure the transition to fully electronic transfers between health plans and providers. Electronic claiming is far superior to the old-fashioned paper version. It saves money, it saves trees, and it typically saves patients from paying out-of-pocket for services ultimately covered by insurance. The deadline for implementing phase 1 of this transition is October 2002, but the reality is some sectors of the health industry and State governments need extra time to make the technical and the procedural changes necessary to achieve compliance. Delaying the compliance deadlines for administrative simplification is not an action any Member of Congress, Mr. Speaker, should take lightly. CMS has estimated that the electronic claims processing can save $30 billion over 10 years. Any delay in implementation reduces, obviously, those associated savings.”