Markey: Health Care Reform Right Prescription for Country

The following statement is from US Representative Edward Markey (D-Malden):

Bill will benefit Mass., Includes Markey-Authored Provision

Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee–one of three committees with jurisdiction over health care policy–issued the following statement after voting in favor of the health care reform bill, which passed the House of Representatives on Sunday:

“With this historic vote, we have finally put families—not health insurance companies—back in control of their own health care,” said Markey. “This bill is the right prescription for our Commonwealth and for our country. It reduces the deficit while expanding coverage to an additional 32 million Americans. It begins a new era of health care reform while ending the worst insurance company abuses.”

“Our health care system has been ailing for decades but today we are offering a long-overdue cure – a cure for skyrocketing health care premiums, a cure for a system that puts profits ahead of patients.”

The bill will include several key provisions that will benefit Massachusetts including:

-The largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history, which would help an estimated 113,000 households in the Seventh District alone pay for health coverage.

– More than $2 billion in additional Medicaid funding for Massachusetts .

-An additional $100 million in annual funds for Massachusetts to insure low-income children through the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

-Lower prescription drug prices for seniors, helping the estimated 80,000 seniors in the Commonwealth who fall into the so-called Medicare Part D Doughnut Hole.

The bill also includes a Markey-authored provision – Independence at Home – which creates a Medicare demonstration program that helps chronically ill seniors receive coordinated care from a team of health care professionals right in their own homes.

“This critical provision not only improves care for the most vulnerable among us, but could also save taxpayers money in the process by catching emerging health problems early, before they require a costly hospitalization,” said Markey.