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Positions and Views on Other Issues where Information is Available: |
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| Health & Medical |
Positions and Views |
| Health & Medical Care, a General Statement |
Biden: The US spends far more per capita on health care than any other industrialized nation; but the increased spending does not result in better health outcomes. In addition, the United States is the largest consumer of medical devices in the world.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Improving Health & Medical Care |
Biden: Joe Biden will establish a Comparative Effectiveness Panel to: evaluate treatment protocols, medical devices and new technology and establish best practices for management of chronic diseases.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Reducing Health Care Costs |
Biden: The United States spends more money than any other nation on health care—currently around $2.2 trillion—but does not have the expected health outcomes to show for it. Obesity rates have doubled over the last two decades and we currently spend 75 cents of every health care dollar on patients with chronic diseases. Senator Biden wants to bring health care costs under control and increase the quality of care by:
Placing a greater emphasis on prevention and wellness to contain health care costs associated with chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, asthma, osteoarthritis and heart disease.
Establishing a Comparative Effectiveness Panel to evaluate treatment protocols, medical devices and new technology, and establish best practices for management of chronic diseases.
Continuing support for and increasing investment in health information technology like electronic medical records.
Urging the adoption of uniform billing and claims processes to reduce administrative costs.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Rationing Health Care |
Biden: No Response |
| Prevention |
Biden: No health reform plan will be able to work without addressing the high costs associated with chronic disease. In order to contain health care costs associated with chronic diseases, Joe Biden would: -Increase funding for existing programs that promote awareness and prevention of chronic diseases and obesity. -Require insurers participating in federal programs to cover preventive care. -Establish chronic disease treatment programs in Medicare and other federal programs to better manage care, especially when a patient has multiple conditions. -Support research on the best approaches to coordinate chronic disease care. -Waive copayment requirements under Medicare for screenings for cervical, breast and colon cancer, as well as other high cost chronic diseases.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/10/2007 |
| Rural Health Care |
Biden: Biden has worked hard to ensure the federal government does its part to help Delaware’s farmers remain competitive, productive and financially secure. To restore fairness and help more farmers receive health benefits, Senator Biden has been a long-time advocate of legislation to increase the self-employed healthcare deduction to 100%.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/21/2008 |
| Health Information Interchange Network |
Biden: The potential for a significant improvement in the delivery of health care when healthcare providers and consumers have access to complete health and treatment histories is enormous: -Improved quality of care: When a health provider or hospital has information about a patient's prescription medications, medical history, treatment history and allergies, he/she can make better clinical decisions, which result in better health outcomes for the patient. -Improved patient-provider communication: When a patient has access to more information, he/she is more likely to engage his/her health care providers in communication about treatment options and wellness opportunities. As a result, the patient is more involved in treatment decisions, improving compliance and overall health outcomes. -Reduced duplication of services and treatments: Two of the most significant cost drivers in the health care industry are prescription drugs and high technology diagnostic and testing services, such as MRIs and CT scans. Compounding these costs is the potential for duplication of these treatments or tests. A quick check of an electronic medical record can show a provider the results of tests already performed and stop duplicative tests and procedures from being performed.
The potential savings to the health care industry from full adoption of electronic medical records is substantial. In fact, researchers at the RAND Corporation estimated that full adoption of electronic medical records could save $77 billion annually. RAND also determined that by 2004, 15 to 20 percent of U.S. physician offices had adopted electronic medical records systems. To get to 100 percent Joe Biden would: -Invest at least $1 billion dollars per year in moving to electronic health records systems. -Provide grants to states to develop electronic medical records and other health IT systems. -Assist hospitals, medical facilities and doctors in upgrading to electronic record systems and implementing them in their pra [Response was truncated to maximum response length of 2000 characters.]
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/10/2007 |
| Quality and Cost Reporting |
Biden: No Response |
| Biomedical Superiority |
Biden: No Response |
| Patient's Bill of Rights |
Biden: No Response |
| Medical Errors |
Biden: No Response |
| Immunizations and Vaccinations |
Biden: No Response |
| Health Opportunity Accounts |
Biden: No Response |
| Alternative Medicine |
Biden: No Response |
| National Institutes of Health (NIH) |
Biden: Continue robust funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), building on the successful effort that doubled NIH funding over five years.
Adopt the NIH guidelines on federal funding for stem cell research.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) |
Biden: No Response |
| Medical Research |
Biden: Senator Biden understands the important role the federal government plays in finding cures for cancer and other diseases by supporting important biomedical research. He is working to strengthen these efforts by:
Continuing robust funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), building on the successful effort that doubled NIH funding over five years.
Adopting the NIH guidelines on federal funding for stem cell research.
Establishing a biotechnology coordinator in the Executive Branch.
Developing vaccines and other effective responses to potential biological weapons.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Physicians |
Biden: Physicians are the backbone of our health care system, and Joe Biden will continue to support the training of physicians by: -Continuing support for Graduate Medical Education. -Supporting initiatives to prepare physicians to practice in specialties to meet impending needs of Americans, especially geriatrics, family medicine and emergency care.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Nurses |
Biden: There are several reasons for the nursing shortage. First, the nursing workforce is rapidly aging. The average age of the RN population in March 2004 was 47 years old. Second, the population of RNs is growing at a slower rate. Third, many nurses feel burdened by heavy patient loads, stressful working conditions and long hours and subsequently leave the nursing profession. Fourth, nursing schools are unable to educate more RNs at the rate they are needed. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN), U.S. nursing schools turned away 42,866 qualified applicants in 2006 due to an insufficient number of faculty, clinical sites, classroom space, clinical preceptors, and budget constraints. Joe Biden will help train and put 100,000 new nurses in the workforce in the next five years by:
Increasing yearly loan amounts available in the Nurse Student Loan Program.
Explicitly including accelerated degree nursing students—those who already have an undergraduate degree in another field who have gone back to school to get a degree in nursing—in the Nursing Student Loan Program.
Providing funds for academic institutions to establish doctoral nursing degree programs in states that currently lack even one such program.
Establishing doctoral nursing consortia pilot projects to allow academic institutions to share faculty and other resources to better teach nursing students. Establishing pilot projects between health facilities and academic institutions to allow nurses to stay in their jobs while also attending school to earn a graduate degree and eventually teach.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/10/2007 |
| Public Health Workers |
Biden: Public health officials are crucial in reacting to public health emergencies and they are critical to the safety of our communities. Joe Biden will help train the next generation of public health workers by: -Establishing the Public Health Workforce Scholarship Program to provide eligible students with scholarships to study public health. -Establishing the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment program. -Creating a catalogue to publish federal health employment opportunities.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Association Health Plans (AHP) |
Biden: No Response |
| Children’s Health |
Biden: The path to universal health care starts with making sure that the most vulnerable, our children, have health insurance. Today 9 million children are uninsured.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/28/2007 |
| Women’s Health |
Biden: Senator Biden has led efforts to detect, treat and prevent breast cancer by:
Helping to enact the breast and cervical cancer prevention program to ensure mammograms are available to low-income women and women without health insurance, and then expanding the program to offer treatment.
Originating legislation passed in the Senate each year since 1993 recognizing National Mammography Day every October to encourage women to have mammograms. Sponsoring legislation to expand Medicare to include coverage of mammograms.
Fighting to guarantee insurance companies do not deprive breast cancer survivors of reconstructive surgery.
Source: www.joebiden.com;biden.senate.gov/issue Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Elderly's Health |
Biden: One of the challenges facing our health care system, especially with the aging of the population and the health care resources older Americans consume, is controlling the amount of money we pay for treatment. While it is tempting to control Medicare costs by simply reducing payments to providers, that approach does not address the issue of volume of services used— and also creates an access problem, as many providers drop out of publicly-run programs when reimbursement drops too low.
Our current system reimburses providers on the volume of services used, without truly examining what services work best. We need to establish a mechanism to examine what methods work better than others.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 11/30/2007 |
| Health Disparities |
Biden: No Response |
| Exposure to Toxic Chemicals |
Biden: No Response |
| HIV/AIDS |
Biden: A co-sponsor of the original Ryan White CARE Act, Senator Biden has maintained his commitment to funding research and treatment for people with HIV/AIDS in the U.S., while also supporting international efforts to reduce the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Africa and developing countries around the world.
Source: biden.senate.gov/issue Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Cancer |
Biden: Joe Biden, through his efforts to promote early detection and quality treatment, has been a leader in fight against this deadly disease that that afflicts more than 200,000 women every year. His efforts include:
Working to create and provide continued support for breast and cervical cancer prevention programs which ensure mammograms are available to low-income women and those without health insurance and then expanding the program beyond screening to one that also offers reliable treatment.
Originating legislation to recognizing National Mammography Day every October since 1993 to encourage women to have mammograms each year.
Supporting authorization of a special postage stamp to raise additional money for breast cancer research.
Sponsoring legislation to expand Medicare to include coverage of mammograms.
Working to ensure that insurance companies cover reconstructive surgery for breast cancer survivors.
Source: www.joebiden.com Date: 12/01/2007 |
| Lead Poisoning |
Biden: No Response |
| Mercury Pollution |
Biden: No Response |
| Obesity |
Biden: No Response |
| Diabetes |
Biden: No Response |
| Mental Health |
Biden: Senator Biden has long cosponsored legislation to ensure that the limitations on health insurance coverage of mental illness be no more restrictive than the limitations on coverage for other medical and surgical disorders.
Source: www.joebiden.com;biden.senate.gov/issue Date: 04/22/2008 |
| Bird Flu (Avian Influenza) |
Biden: Senator Biden was at the forefront of the fight against Avian Influenza when it was discovered in two flocks of chickens in Delaware in 2004. The presence of avian influenza is a major threat to the poultry industry and at the time, over 50 countries banned US poultry exports. Senator Biden immediately requested funding to respond to and prevent the spread of avian influenza in Delaware, Maryland and other surrounding states. In addition, Senator Biden requested and received assistance from the United States Department of Agriculture to help Delaware and their poultry businesses recover
Source: biden.senate.gov/issues Date: 04/21/2008 |
| Drug Addiction |
Biden: No Response |
| Mad Cow |
Biden: No Response |
| West Nile Virus |
Biden: No Response |
| Autism |
Biden: No Response |
| Asthma |
Biden: No Response |
| Alzheimer’s Disease |
Biden: No Response |
| Substance Abuse |
Biden: No Response |
| Resistance to Antibiotics |
Biden: No Response |