Johnson wants
change in
health-care
system
New Britain
Herald
By SARA HATCH ,
Boston
University
Washington News
Service
WASHINGTON --
Rep. Nancy
Johnson, R-Conn.,
called Thursday
for turning the
health-care
industry from an
"illness-treatment
system" to a
"health
preventive
system."
Johnson, who
chairs the House
Ways and Means
Subcommittee on
Health, proposed
greater
implementation
of technology in
health care and
stressed that
new advances go
hand in hand
with lowering
costs.
"If we can
manage disease
more
effectively, we
can keep people
out of hospitals
and emergency
rooms, which are
the high-cost
venues, and we
can, using far
fewer resources,
enable people to
have healthier
lives," Johnson
said.
Johnson
spoke at a press
conference
called by the
Republican Main
Street
Partnership, a
group of more
than 60 centrist
Republican
Senate and House
members and
governors to
discuss its 2006
legislative
agenda.
Johnson
stressed that
new technology
can help
physicians to
better
understand
patient medical
histories and
thus provide
better
treatment.
Other
issues on the
Main Street
Partnership
agenda were
education,
ethics, high
technology and
innovation, and
fiscal policy.
The group, in a
statement,
called for
greater
initiatives to
bring math and
science
graduates back
into the
classroom as
teachers,
echoing a theme
of President
Bush?s Jan. 31
State of the
Union speech.
Rep. Tom Davis,
R-Va., a member
of the
partnership's
board, said this
year's agenda
would also
include
continued work
with stem cell
research.
In
2005, House Main
Street
Republicans
helped overturn
restrictions on
federal funding
for embryonic
stem cell
research. The
legislation
allows for
funding for
research on
frozen embryos
donated by
couples who no
longer need them
for fertility
treatments.
Rep. Mike
Castle, R-Del.,
the partnership
president,
responded to a
question on the
vulnerability of
moderates in
their districts,
saying that
because there
are generally
large numbers of
Democrats among
their
constituents,
"we sort of run
scared all the
time."
