|
New York-Presbyterian Hospital’s reacts to house vote on healthcare reform Editor’s note: The following is a statement released by NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital regarding the Nov. 7 passing of a universal heath care bill by the House of Representatives. This is the first step towards universal health care. The Senate is weighing its own version of the bill. Then the two will have to be reconciled before another vote is taken by both houses. New York-Presbyterian Hospital congratulates the House of Representatives on passing historic healthcare reform legislation. As described by H.R. 3962, the way that Americans are covered by health insurance will change for the better. No one will be prevented from receiving health insurance because he or she has a pre-existing condition. There will be no lifetime caps on how much coverage someone can receive. The price of an insurance policy will be predictable. In short, many of the fears that people have that health insurance won't be there when they need it the most will be gone if the House bill becomes law. We appreciate that H.R. 3962 recognizes the importance of urban hospitals and academic medical centers. The bill establishes a public option to purchase insurance from a government sponsored program. It allows medical providers to negotiate appropriate rates with insurance carriers and continues payments to providers who care for the poorest. The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan called academic medical centers the “crown jewels” of the American healthcare system – the center of medical education and research and the locus of care for the needy. While these centers constitute only six percent of all hospitals, they provide 40 percent of care to the indigent. Legislation that keeps academic medical centers strong will advance healthcare, and we believe that the bill passed by the House of Representatives respects academic medicine and is a major step to solving the great problem of providing coverage to all Americans and controlling the burgeoning cost of healthcare. NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital The Manhattan Times is the bilingual newspaper of Washington Heights and Inwood.
|
