|
Monday, 28 April 2008 15:46 |
Congressional Candidate Betsy Markey’s Response to RMAC
Questionnaire for Colorado’s Congressional Representatives and Candidates
The Rocky Mountain Action Coalition is pleased to submit the following questions to each incumbent member of and candidate for the US Senate and House of Representatives.
Health Care – Health care costs have grown at 3 times the wage rate for several years. Currently 48 million Americans have no medical insurance and 20 million more are under-insured. Catastrophic medical costs are the leading cause of personal bankruptcies.
A. What is your proposed solution to this complex problem?
I believe that, first and foremost, we need a change in priorities and perspective when it comes to our approach to solving the healthcare crisis. The current Administration in the White House and Republicans in Congress have spent too much time catering to the concerns of the big insurance companies and not enough time listening to the concerns of average Americans.
Access to quality healthcare should be a right, not a privilege, and I absolutely believe that the government has a role to play in the process. I think we need to take advantage of a unique moment of opportunity in healthcare reform when citizens and the business community are both clamoring for wholesale change.
I also think we need to limit the control that health insurance companies have over the administration of healthcare benefits by creating a larger risk pool and consolidating the paperwork involved with applying for benefits. I believe that we need to address the issue of denying healthcare coverage to people with pre-existing conditions – it is an absolute disgrace that the people in this country who need healthcare coverage the most have the hardest time getting it.
I think that a portable prescription drug component is a critical piece of any healthcare reform. I also support the concept of single payer healthcare and would support legislation in the House that presented a viable single payer option for Americans.
B. If elected, will you actively pursue a legislative solution as your top priority?
_x___Yes ____No
C. Are there pending legislative solutions to these issues that you support? If yes, please list bill names or numbers.
Medicare Reform – Medicare premiums and deductibles increase yearly while benefits erode. The program is in serious financial trouble and many doctors are refusing to take new patients. There are no protections against catastrophic medical costs.
A. What are your plans to make Medicare financially stable?
I think we need to adopt a more intelligent approach to insuring that Medicare remains financially stable well into our children’s future and I think there are several steps we can take to make this possible.
First, I think we need to devote more resources to preventive care before Americans are even enrolled in Medicare. Requiring health insurance companies to pay for preventive care for chronic illness, such as diabetes and heart disease, will reduce the need for expensive treatments later on – thus lowering many of the costs associated with Medicare.
Second, I believe we absolutely need to repeal the ban, passed by a Republican Congress in 2003, on letting the government negotiate with drug manufacturers for lower prices. We need to require federal officials to negotiate with drug companies for lower prices for the 23 million senior citizens who have signed up for Medicare's prescription drug coverage.
B. Would you support a yearly out-of-pocket expense limit for Medicare recipients?
__x__Yes ____No
Patented Medicine – Prescription drug prices are escalating at several times the rate of inflation. Pharmaceutical companies are making record profits while many Americans can no longer afford the price of needed drugs.
A. Do you support the importation/re-importation of prescription drugs to create competitive pricing? ___x_Yes ____No
B. What constraints would you place on imported drugs?
I believe that imported drugs should be constrained by the same safety standards as drugs sold in the United States. The importation of safe, FDA-approved medicines from Canada and other industrialized nations would significantly lower the costs for average Americans and especially relieve seniors of the burden of high-cost prescriptions.
C. Would you support modifying the Medicare D program …
1. To allow direct negotiations with the drug manufacturers? ___x_Yes ____No
2. To eliminate the doughnut hole? ___x_Yes ____No
D. Are there pending legislative solutions to these issues that you support? If yes, please list bill names or numbers.
I support S.242/HR 380 – the Pharmaceutical Market Access and Drug Safety Act of 2007. I support this legislation as a way of reducing the cost of prescription drugs in the United States by allowing access to safe, FDA-approved imported medicine.
Bankruptcy Protection – Numerous American workers and retirees have lost their hard earned pensions and health care benefits as a result of corporate bankruptcy fillings.
A. What protections would you apply to pensions and health care benefits in the event of corporate bankruptcies?
First and foremost, I would not allow companies that have filed for corporate bankruptcy and forced retirees to forgo their pension to award massive bonuses and incredible compensation packages to the executives who took these companies into bankruptcy in the first place.
We need to put an end to companies’ use of the bankruptcy laws as just another business tactic to cut costs. Employees and retirees need to be the first priority in bankruptcy filings and the government and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) need to have more power to pursue company executives who abuse the bankruptcy process.
B. Will you actively pursue legislation to provide such protections? __x__Yes ____No
Signed: Betsy Markey Date: April 4, 2008
|
|
Last Updated on Sunday, 18 May 2008 11:25 |
MiamiHerald.comAnalysis: Recent California newspaper editorialsSan Jose Mercury NewsTaxpayers will still be on the hook for pension benefits for these three overpaid public workers. Mr. Rizzo will still be the highest paid retiree in the ...For whom the Bell tollsSanta Rosa[…]
The American (blog)'Public Employees Get More Benefits'The American (blog)State and local employees receive significantly larger pension and retiree health benefits than private-sector employees, but the costs of these benefits ...and more »
