Political Quotes

“I wish to advocate for legislation my colleague, Senator Portman, and I have coauthored that focuses on driving better health outcomes for America's seniors through the use of real, positive financial incentives. I think we can all agree on a theory--the best health care is often the least expensive, and it is often health care you can have real control over--prevention. According to the Hastings Center, 76 percent of Medicare spending is on patients with five or more chronic diseases: stroke, heart disease, diabetes and cancer lead the way. And with $2.7 trillion spent annually on health care, one of the best ways to slow the growth of that spending is to keep Americans healthier, and to do that, we have to reduce the prevalence of chronic disease. I think Medicare can help spark that transformation. It is a large Federal program, some of the smartest health policy links the Federal Government and the private sector, and, most important, the Federal Government already pays for seniors to have an annual physical. At present, when seniors leave that physical, too often there is no game plan or specific steps a senior can take to get healthier in the year ahead. Seniors get a bunch of numbers about their tests, possibly a prescription, and some medical lingo about their general health, but mostly everyone just hopes things will turn out OK at the next physical. Maybe it was an OK year, and that extra dessert wasn't a problem after all.…”