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April 23, 2009 Volume 5, Number 16 | ||
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In This Issue
Representative Cynthia
Davis
Majority Floor Whip Missouri State Capitol
Room 112
E-Mail cynthia.davis@house.mo.gov Committees Special Committee on Children and Families Chair Chair Special Committee on State Parks and Waterways State Links Official Homepage for Missouri State Government Official Government Homepage for your Missouri Senator and Representative Look up Missouri House Bills – View Entire Text, Summary, and Last Action Look up Missouri Senate Bills Consumer Complaints & Fraudulent Activity, No-Call List Local Links
Federal Links Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer Other Links
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How To Save Lives
Missouri State Representatives Anne Zerr, myself, and Kenny Biermann look at a helicopter at the St. Charles County Ambulance District Headquarters.
We live in America. We should have the very best medical care available. To improve medical care, I am involved in efforts to return the healthcare industry back to the consumer, but we are several steps away from that. For us to correct the current system, we must have:
Until these changes take place, we will move toward an ever broadening system of socialized medicine. Newt Gingrich came to the Capitol last week to speak to legislators about healthcare reforms. He concluded by saying that, when we all receive socialized medicine, it will be the equivalent of everybody having Medicaid. However, the Medicaid system has problems. For example, the doctors are not compensated very well, so few accept new patients, resulting in long wait times for appointments. While many fine doctors serve the Medicaid population, doctors who are in the greatest demand tend to refuse Medicaid patients. To read more about solutions, click here: Center for Health Transformation.
Last session, my Health Care Policy Committee was involved with passing a law that pertains to handling strokes and heart attacks in Missouri. While I normally do not like to pass more laws, this one is different because it favors protections for the consumer over “big business.” Previously, the ambulance transported stroke and heart attack patients to the nearest hospital. The new law allows these patients to be transported to hospitals that specialize in strokes or certain kinds of heart attacks. When we heard this bill, my main concern was why legislation is necessary to offer guidance to a private, for-profit industry. The answer is that this industry is already outside our free market model. Because the vast majority of patients have third-party payers, Medicare, or Medicaid, the consumer has little control over this industry.
Recently, I had an opportunity to see how this new law helps save time, money and most importantly, lives. On a tour of the St. Charles County Ambulance District Headquarters, I saw first-hand how the new Time Critical Diagnosis (TCD) System is changing the way hospitals, Emergency Medical Services teams, and other health care providers are delivering care to stroke and heart attack patients. We are leading the rest of the nation with this new process.
In Missouri, heart disease is the number one cause of death and stroke is the number three cause of death. Research has shown that, when someone suffers a stroke or a specific type of heart attack called STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction), delivery of specialized treatment within hours of the onset of symptoms can dramatically improve the likelihood of a full recovery.
Under the new TCD system, patients will be taken directly to a specially designated hospital that is equipped to deliver the kind of care that can dramatically improve their chance for a full recovery. This early intervention has a direct impact on the amount of recovery time patients require – and less time spent in the hospital means lower health care costs and a more rapid return home.
I will continue to push for consumers, armed with sufficient knowledge, to make their own decisions. We will drive down our health care costs and insurance premiums when this happens.
Your thoughts are important to me, so please let me know what you think about health care. You can send me your opinion by clicking here: Cynthia Davis
Visitors of the Week Living Word Christian School
Last week, the fourth graders from Living Word Christian School, Mid Rivers Campus, came to visit me with their teachers. What a fine group of students!
Cynthia in the News
KOMU News Christine Gerli Wednesday, April 15, 2009 JEFFERSON CITY - Tax day tea parties brewed in communities across Missouri today... Including Jefferson City and Camdenton. The Boston Tea Party concept moved to Mid-Missouri today. It's not your average cup of tea, but the party's theme was "This is wrong." "A lot of people are wondering, is there anything more to it than just the taxes and it is about the stimulus bills and it is about the bailout and things like that," coordinator Brett Dinkins said. "The ideas out there, people will see that other people are taking a stand and for somebody like me that's a little bit more shy, that's important," protester Rebecca Tucker said. "They're squandering our money, it's like putting everything on a credit card, and when you put it on a credit card, you think you're ok until the bill comes," Republican State Representative Cynthia Davis said. State Representative J.C. Kuessner disagrees. "I wanted to emphasize that to run government you have to have taxes and you have to support the government in some way," Kuessner said. Is there a solution to this problem? "Let the free market work. Stop spending our money, lower taxes, put more money in our pockets and we'll spend it," protester Chelsea Maltagliati said. "Stop trying to be revisionists with our history. We need to return to what our founding fathers intended," protester Mark Krantz said. In terms of protest, the party was a success.
A Little Bit of Humor
"Doctor, are you sure I'm suffering from pneumonia? I heard once about a doctor treating someone with pneumonia and finally he died of typhus." "Don't worry, it won't happen with me. If I treat someone with pneumonia, he will die of pneumonia."
This Capitol Report is a weekly column by Representative Cynthia Davis, from the 19th District, covering events in the Missouri Legislature and district-wide issues. J If you know of anyone else who would like to receive my Capitol Report, please send an e-mail to Cynthia.Davis@house.mo.gov with the person’s name and e-mail address. We’ll add them to the list. L If you would like to stop receiving the Capitol Report, email us at Cynthia.Davis@house.mo.gov with “unsubscribe” in the subject line.
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