VOICES FOR REFORM: Senator Durenberger and the Need for Reform

If we learned anything from childhood trips to Browerville, it's that good things come from Minnesota. Take Bob Dylan, Garrison Keillor, or our mother's pickle recipe, for examples. Of course, if you're not convinced by pickles and pop, you should try listening to the state's former Senator, Dave Durenberger (R-MN) talk about health reform, as he did today before the Committee on Ways and Means' Subcommittee on Health.

Serving on both the Senate finance and health committees during his three terms in office from 1978–95, Durenberger knows health care. Further, as a man who witnessed firsthand the failings of the 1993–94 reform efforts, Durenberger has a sense of the kind of the bipartisan compromises that it will take to make lasting health reform a reality. When he talks, we and members of Congress listen.

Our quick takes from the former Senator from the Land of 10,000 Lakes:

The time to act is now: "Not since 1992 have individuals been so concerned about their financial well-being," Durenberger noted, and a major part of their concern is the rapid escalation of health care costs. With average family premiums rising from 7 percent of the median family income in 1987 to 17 percent in 2007, we couldn't agree more.

Health reform requires leadership on a national level: Predicting that leadership will be the “biggest factor” in accomplishing reform, he called on the next president to begin by giving “Americans a view of what is possible in a country as rich as ours,” because “unless the people are on board you’re going to lose.”

Payment reform is key: Noting the emphasis by presidential candidates on cost containment, Durenberger stressed the need to move to a system in which we pay for performance. He noted that Republicans and Democrats already agree on such things as the need for comparative effectiveness research and information technology.

Let's see—pay for performance, national bipartisan leadership, and an urgency of action—yeah, you betcha, we'd like to hear more of that. Now pass the pickles.