U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin was in Richland Center Tuesday

U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin was in Richland Center yesterday, for a tour of the Richland Hospital, after which she met with several members of the staff, and the hospital board for a roundtable discussion regarding rural health care.

During the discussion, Baldwin expressed the next major reform in healthcare will likely be addressing the impact of, “middlemen” in the pharmaceutical industry.  Baldwin stated, “These companies state a price for a drug, but then no one pays that price, it’s this discount and that rebate and on and on.”

Both the Senator, and multiple TRHC staff members expressed frustration not only with the costs associated with the current system, but also the unnecessary delays that seem to do nothing but waste the time of everyone involved, when the focus should be on delivering the best outcomes for the people seeking medical care.

Baldwin shared from her personal history, explaining how a childhood illness she had experienced had made it difficult to find health insurance, because for years, insurance companies were allowed to deny coverage to those with what was then called a “pre-existing condition.”  Citing that change as an example of major reform, Baldwin said, “They can’t do that anymore.”  Baldwin expanded on that point, adding, she was, “Proud to be the author of the amendment that made it possible for children to stay on their parents’ insurance until age 26.”

Looking to the future, and the need for significant reform in the health care system once again, Baldwin said, “It has to get done, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to make it easy.”