Political Quotes

“our health care system is structured to cure but often neglects how we die and how to make dying patients and their families more comfortable. Today, I am introducing two bills which I believe will provide better care options for dying patients in our country. The Medicare Hospice Demonstration Act seeks to test ways in which to improve the Medicare hospice benefit, and the Palliative Care Training Act recognizes that we need a larger cadre of health care professionals who know how to help those with terminal illnesses have a better quality of life. Although this Congress made improvements in the Medicare Hospice benefit last year, I believe we need to continue to test new modes of providing hospice care so that more seniors are not only aware of the benefit, but access it when needed. Medicare introduced the hospice program in 1983 as an optional benefit for achieving a 'good death'. This benefit is widely recognized as effective in improving quality of life for terminally ill patients. Hospice programs provide a range of services to control pain and provide comfort care, primarily to individuals in their own homes. In the past decade, the number of Medicare patients receiving hospice care has more than doubled. Today, about 20 percent of patients who die in the United States receive hospice care. However, average lengths of stay in hospice have been dropping.”