Perriello joins congressional freshmen in health care requests

Rep. Tom Perriello, D-5th District, and nine other freshman Democrats have asked congressional leaders to include seven items in health care legislation that their constituents suggested in August meetings.

The freshmen said they wanted a bill that reforms health care without increasing the federal deficit. That was a key demand in a letter the 10 mailed on Friday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

“The line in the sand is deficit neutrality,” Perriello said Monday.

Other reforms the freshmen demanded include closing the prescription drug “doughnut hole” in Medicare coverage, along with tort reform for malpractice claims.

The demands came largely “from constituent feedback” at the town-hall meetings the Congress members held during August, according to a news release from Perriello’s office on Monday.

“The good news is that the vast majority of the plan is going to be paid for by cutting waste in government programs and increasing efficiency,” Perriello said. Those savings could add up to $600 billion and cover two-thirds of the cost of health-care reform, he said.

Three other key demands were interstate competition among health-insurance companies, protections for small businesses that offer health coverage for employees, and a “congressional option” that would let people choose the same quality health care that members of Congress enjoy.

The seventh item was creating incentives that encourage people to take personal responsibility and live healthier lifestyles for their wellness and preventive care.

Not on the freshmen’s list was the “single-payer” option that some town-hall speakers said would amount to a government takeover of the health care system. Many people at town hall meetings, particularly in the northern part of the 5th District, had encouraged Perriello to support the “single-payer” plan.

Perriello said the reforms now in the House would meet the request of Lynchburg’s Centra Health system and other hospitals that want to move away from Medicare’s “fee for service” system, which encourages multiple tests for older patients.

“This is a massive saving from the government program,” Perriello said. “People say you’ve got to either raise taxes or cut spending” in order to pay for reforms.

“We are cutting spending by increasing efficiency.”

The changes, for seniors, mean “more quality care at a cheaper price, and I think every hospital in the country will tell you they can do that,” Perriello said.

Changes the freshmen wanted to see in insurance company competition would create new practices in the industry, Perriello said.

“We certainly picked a fight with the insurance lobby, and I’m comfortable with that,” Perriello said. “Part of the way they make their money is by denying people care, and that’s not what the function should be.

“The solution is not to get rid of them, but to create a best-practices competition for them to behave responsibly.”

The other freshmen Congress members who signed the letter to Pelosi and Hoyer were: Frank M. Kratovil Jr., D-Md.; Jared Polis, D-Colo.; Gerald Connolly, D-Va.; Steve Driehaus, D-Ohio; Parker Griffith, D-Ala.; Kurt Schrader, D-Ore.; John Boccieri, D-Ohio; Eric Massa, D-N.Y.; and Kathy Dahlkemper, D-Pa.