Opening Statement of Hon. Mark Foley, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida

Hearing on Promoting Disease Management in Medicare

April 16, 2002

Madam Chairman, I want to thank you for holding this very important hearing today on disease management programs in Medicare. As you know, Congress created Medicare in 1965 for the purpose of providing a basic health insurance package for our elderly -- who, in many cases, cannot make ends meet. In its current form, Medicare is a reactive program that generally pays only when the beneficiary gets ill.

However, with healthcare costs rising between eight and ten percent each year we need to reexamine the entire health system in order to save it. Medicare must move from a reactive pay-as-you go system to a pro-active "wellness care" model. This shift will save the American people billions of dollars while increasing the quality of life of our elderly. The notion is simple -- if we can get a patient to the doctor soon enough, then the overall cost of taking care of that person dramatically decreases. That is why Congressman Sander Levin and I introduced H.R. 2058, the Medicare Wellness Act. Our bill would be a major step in providing necessary preventive care benefits to our elderly. Specifically, the bill would establish a Healthy Seniors Promotion Program; expands coverage of preventive services; establishes a national fall prevention campaign; sets up a clinical depression screening demonstration project; and, requires a study of elderly disease prevention.

Again, Madam Chairman, I commend your actions today in bringing this very important issue to our committee. I hope that as you and your committee begin work on a larger Medicare bill this year that you will give strong consideration to incorporating some of the provisions in our bill.

Thank you.