Matthews: ... let me ask you this. Your party deserves credit because you pushed through welfare reform, a tough bill, because Newt Gingrich pushed it and the president had to sign it under duress in 1996, I think. He might have lost 4 or 5% in that fight with Bob Dole. I don't think he would have lost but he would have lost a lot of ground. So you guys showed the upper hand, you got the job done, you forced a Democrat to eat it and he did.
Why didn't you ever do that on health care? You've had power. You've had both houses under Bush, you've had both houses and the presidency. You had plenty of chances to get a really good health care bill using taxes or whatever to serve the country that's not being served by healthcare. But yet you wait around, like a troll under the bridge, waiting for the Democrats to do it and then you come out and bite their leg. Who don't you walk across that bridge, why don't you have a healthcare bill when you're in power?
Barbour: We trolls who are hiding under the bridge, candidly, a lot of Republicans, including me, believe it would be much better to let the states do some things like we've done in Mississippi where we've had serious tort reform and our medical liability reform has brought down insurance premiums by 60% in four years, we have reformed medicaid so that we are saving the taxpayers money. We think let the states go for a while, see what works see what doesn't and then come together with a rational bill at the federal level is a better approach.
| Insured Adults | 297,552 | more adults (ages 18-64) would be covered by health insurance (public or private), and therefore would be more likely to receive health care when needed. |
| Insured Children | 74,308 | more children (ages 0-17) would be covered by health insurance (public or private), and therefore would be more likely to receive health care when needed. |
| Adult Preventive Care | 145,277 | more adults (ages 50 and older) would receive recommended preventive care, such as colon cancer screenings, mammograms, pap smears, and flu shots at appropriate ages. |
| Diabetes Care | 80,492 | more adults (ages 18 and older) with diabetes would receive three recommended services (eye exam, foot exam, and hemoglobin A1c test) to help prevent or delay disease complications. |
| Childhood Vaccinations | 8,456 | more children (ages 19-35 months) would be up-to-date on all recommended doses of five key vaccines. |
| Adults with a Usual Source of Care | 237,036 | more adults (ages 18 and older) would have a usual source of care to help ensure that care is coordinated and accessible when needed. |
| Children with a Medical Home | 135,603 | more children (ages 0-17) would have a medical home to help ensure that care is coordinated and accessible when needed. |
| Preventable Hospital Admissions | 12,046 | fewer preventable hospitalizations for ambulatory care sensitive conditions would occur among Medicare beneficiaries (age 65 and older) and |
| $67,451,446 | dollars would be saved from the reduction in hospitalizations. | |
| Hospital Readmissions | 2,178 | fewer hospital readmissions would occur among Medicare beneficiaries (age 65 and older) and |
| $24,016,832 | dollars would be saved from the reduction in readmissions. | |
| Hospitalization of Nursing Home Residents | 2,659 | fewer long-stay nursing home residents would be hospitalized and |
| $17,704,944 | dollars would be saved from the reduction in hospitalizations. | |
| Mortality Amenable to Health Care | 2,018 | fewer premature deaths (before age 75) might occur from causes that are potentially treatable or preventable with timely and appropriate health care. |