Bush Signs ‘Patient Navigator’ Bill To Help People Make Medical Decisions
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report
June 30, 2005
President Bush on Wednesday signed into law a bill that will establish a “patient navigator” system to help patients with chronic illnesses make medical decisions, CongressDaily reports (Rovner, CongressDaily, 6/30).
The law authorizes $25 million in grants over five years to establish patient navigator programs to aid uninsured patients in low-income and rural communities nationwide. Under the system, counselors will help patients evaluate their treatment options, enroll in clinical trials, obtain referrals and apply for financial assistance (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 6/24). Rep. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who co-sponsored the legislation with Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-Ohio), said, “This is a textbook example of how the legislative process should work” (CongressDaily, 6/30).
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_hpolicy.cfm
Comment: Is this a textbook example of the way the legislative process should work?
Helping low-income, uninsured individuals find free programs or locations for financial assistance is certainly not bad policy. But at an average of $100,000 per state per year, there are not enough funds to pay for one individual per state, plus the overhead required for that individual to function.
Unfortunately, this is a textbook example of how our “bipartisan” legislative process is failing us miserably. Political solutions exist which would provide affordable access to comprehensive health care for everyone, without spending more than we do already. Yet the politicians continue to turn their backs, pretending that they didn’t hear us.
We don’t need money from Congress; we need authorization for structural reform of health care financing. Now that we’re ready to build a splendiferous new financing structure for health care, our Congress can’t seem to come up with much more than the equivalent of a construction-project outhouse on an empty lot. Surely the legislative process can work better than that.