Ben Ray Lujan on Health Care

Cancer diagnosis shouldn't lead to bankruptcy or home loss

Supports $100 million to expand children's healthcare

Increased funding for birth control and related services

Co-sponsor of Medicare for All

Universal health care: affordability, accessibility, quality

• No one should be denied care for a pre-existing condition
• Health care should be portable and not tied to your job
• Redundancy and waste should be eliminated to reduce costs
• You should be able to choose your own doctor.

Increase funding for occupational & physical therapy.

Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Services Act of 2011 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to repeal the cap on outpatient physical therapy, speech-language pathology, and occupational therapy services of the type furnished by a physician or as an incident to physicians` services.

SEC. 2. OUTPATIENT THERAPY CAP REPEAL.

Section 1833 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395(l)) is amended by striking subsection (g).

[Explanatory note from Wikipedia.com `Therapy Cap`]:

In 1997 Congress established per-person Medicare spending limits, or `therapy cap` for nonhospital outpatient therapy, but responding to concerns that some people with Medicare need extensive services, it has since placed temporary moratoriums on the caps. The therapy cap is a combined $1,810 Medicare cap for physical therapy and speech language pathology, and a separate $1,810 cap for occupational therapy ($1870 for 2011). Medicare patients requiring rehabilitation from disabilities, car accidents, hip injuries, stroke, and other ailments would be limited to roughly two months worth of treatments at an outpatient therapy clinic. Any patients that exceed the cap, whether they are healed or not, would have to stop therapy, or pay for the therapy services out of their own pocket.Several medical associations have lobbied against therapy caps because the bill inadvertently restricted disabled seniors, stroke patients, and other severe cases from receiving therapy treatments.

Establish a public insurance option via healthcare Exchanges.

Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act [PPACA, known as ObamaCare] to require Exchanges to offer a public health insurance option that ensures choice, competition, and stability of affordable, high-quality coverage throughout the United States. Declares that the primary responsibility is to create a low-cost plan without compromising quality or access to care. Sets forth provisions related to the establishment and governance of the public health insurance option, including that such plan:

1. may be made available only through Exchanges;
2. must comply with requirements applicable to other health benefits plans offered through such Exchanges; and
3. must offer bronze, silver, and gold plan levels.

Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to:
1. establish an office of the ombudsman for the public health insurance option;
2. collect such data as may be required to establish premiums and payment rates;
3. establish geographically adjusted premiums at a level sufficient to fully finance the costs of the health benefits provided and administrative costs related to the operation of the plan; and
4. establish payment rates and provide for greater payment rates for the first three years.

Sponsored merging Alzheimers diagnosis and care benefit.

Congressional Summary:The purpose of this Act is to increase diagnosis of Alzheimer`s disease and related dementias, leading to better care and outcomes for Americans living with Alzheimer`s disease and related dementias. Congress makes the following findings:

1. As many as half of the estimated 5.2 million Americans with Alzheimer`s disease have never received a diagnosis.
2. An early and documented diagnosis and access to care planning services leads to better outcomes for individuals with Alzheimer`s disease.
3. Combining the existing Medicare benefits of a diagnostic evaluation and care planning into a single package of services would help ensure that individuals receive an appropriate diagnosis as well as critical information about the disease and available care options.

Proponent`s argument for bill: (The Alzheimer`s Association, alz.org). The `Health Outcomes, Planning, and Education (HOPE) for Alzheimer`s Act` (S.709/H.R. 1507) is one of the Alzheimer`s Association`s top federal priorities for the 113th Congress. The HOPE for Alzheimer`s Act would improve diagnosis of Alzheimer`s disease and increase access to information on care and support for newly diagnosed individuals and their families. It would also ensure that an Alzheimer`s or dementia diagnosis is documented in the individual`s medical record.

GOP can't beat ObamaCare, so they pretend it's a "disaster".

Heritage Action Summary: This vote would fully repeal ObamaCare.

Heritage Foundation recommendation to vote YES: (2/3/2015): ObamaCare creates $1.8 trillion in new health care spending and uses cuts to Medicare spending to help pay for some of it. Millions of Americans already have lost, and more likely will lose, their coverage because of ObamaCare. Many Americans have not been able to keep their doctors as insurers try to offset the added costs of ObamaCare by limiting the number of providers in their networks. In spite of the promise, the law increases the cost of health coverage.

Secretary of Labor Robert Reich recommendation to vote NO: (robertreich.org 11/22/2013): Having failed to defeat the Affordable Care Act, Republicans are now hell-bent on destroying the ObamaCare in Americans` minds, using the word `disaster` whenever mentioning the Act, and demand its repeal. Democrats [should] meet the Republican barrage with three larger truths:

1. The wreck of private insurance: Ours has been the only healthcare system in the world designed to avoid sick people. For-profit insurers have spent billions finding and marketing their policies to healthy people--while rejecting people with preexisting conditions, or at high risk.
2. We could not continue with this travesty of a healthcare system: ObamaCare is a modest solution. It still relies on private insurers--merely setting minimum standards and `exchanges` where customers can compare policies.
3. The moral imperative: Even a clunky compromise like the ACA between a national system of health insurance and a for-profit insurance market depends, fundamentally, on a social compact in which those who are healthier and richer are willing to help those who are sicker and poorer. Such a social compact defines a society.

Legislative outcome: Passed House 239-186-8; never came to a vote in the Senate.

Expand the National Health Service Corps.

A bill to achieve access to comprehensive primary health care services for all Americans and to reform the organization of primary care delivery through an expansion of the Community Health Center and National Health Service Corps programs. Amends the Public Health Service Act to:
1. increase and extend the authorization of appropriations for community health centers and for the National Health Service Corps scholarship and loan repayment program for FY2010-FY2015, and provide for increased funding for such programs in FY2016 and each subsequent fiscal year; and
2. revise and expand provisions allowing a community health center to provide services at different locations, adjust its operating plan and budget, enter into arrangements with other centers to purchase supplies and services at reduced cost, and correct material failures in grant compliance.