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We thank the freshman Senators for their efforts to put consumers and patients first as Congress works to improve our health care system. Their amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act builds on the bill’s strengths and puts additional, critically needed, pieces in place to further strengthen Medicare and keep costs in check.

In particular, the Value and Innovation Package positions Medicare to more rapidly test and implement the quality improvement programs authorized under health reform so that beneficiaries start receiving higher quality care as soon as possible. It empowers Medicare and Medicaid to partner with the private sector in order to find groundbreaking ways to improve how we pay for and deliver health care. These new innovations will lead to care that is better coordinated, higher value and more patient-centered. The package will also help shrink premium increases through waste-cutting measures like improving the technology we use to share health information and cracking down on Medicare fraud.

Women and families across the country have a great deal at stake in the outcome of health reform. The freshman senators deserve accolades for setting politics aside and rolling up their sleeves to shape policies that will truly help the consumers and patients who struggle every day in a fragmented, uncoordinated health care system.

We encourage the full Senate to adopt the Value and Innovation Package and move quickly to pass a strong health reform bill that expands coverage, improves health care coordination and quality, and makes health care affordable for all.”