Hillary Keeps Working on Health Care

05/17/2005

Dear Friend,

You’ve probably heard that Hillary appeared at a press conference with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich last week, calling for a bipartisan effort to improve health care in America through better use of technology. “We have the most advanced medical system in the world, yet patient safety is compromised every day due to medical errors, duplication and other inefficiencies,” Hillary said. “Harnessing the potential of information technology will help reduce errors and improve quality in our health system.” Yesterday’s New York Times opined, “[T]he cause this odd couple was promoting in the press conference heard round the world is actually a very good one - the need to drag the health care industry out of the dark ages of scribbled notes and into the modern world of electronic record keeping.”

There’s more; as we wait for Republicans’ “nuclear option,” we thought we’d remind you that Hillary keeps working for quality, accessible health care. She criticized the decision by the White House and Congressional Republicans to slash Medicaid funding by $10 billion, pointing out that “Medicaid is truly the last resort for: children, seniors, disabled Americans and New Yorkers living with AIDS and other chronic diseases.”

On April 27, Hillary spoke on “Closing the Health Care Divide,” a plan to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care, calling for more attention to diseases that disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities, such as asthma, which affects 25 % of the children in central Harlem - more than twice the national average.

Last week, Hillary joined with Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) to write Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to call attention to the fact that once again in the Bush Administration, politics seemed to trump science. Specifically, they wrote the Secretary about the disturbing claim by a controversial member of an FDA advisory panel that he stopped approval of over-the-counter-sales of emergency contraception, even though the overwhelming majority of the FDA’s scientific advisors supported it. “Once again, what Satan meant for evil, God turned into good,” Dr David Hager said in a videotaped sermon.

In their letter, Senators Clinton and Murray called for an investigation into the issues raised by these comments. “As we have previously stated, we are concerned that the FDA’s decision-making process is placing personal beliefs over science. And Dr. Hager’s statements only add to our deep concern.”

Also last week, Hillary traveled to several upstate military bases including Rome, where the Dept of Defense has recommended that the Air Force Research Laboratory be reduced, and Niagara Falls, where the base was targeted to close. Hillary pledged to make the case for these installations and the important role they play in America’s national security. As she said of the force based at Niagara:

“In November 2003, I had the opportunity to fly from Baghdad to Kuwait with members of the 914th Airlift wing wearing night vision goggles,” she said, “and I can attest to their skill and bravery.”

Now it’s on to this week’s challenge: defending the Constitution. Please let us know if you would like more information about any of these issues, and thank you, as always, for being a Friend of Hillary!

Sincerely,
Ann F. Lewis
Director of Communications