On first anniversary, Harkin praises health-care reform

DES MOINES – Sen. Tom Harkin demurred when dubbed the “patron saint of prevention” at an event marking the one-year anniversary of health-care reform, but praised the Affordable Care Act for “beginning to replace a sick care system with a health care system focused on wellness and prevention.”

“I don't know about sainthood,” the Iowa Democrat said after Mary Mincer Hansen, former director of the state Department of Public Health and now chairwoman of the masters of public health program at Des Moines University, canonized him.

Harkin was sure that under the Affordable Care Act, which signed into law a year ago by President Barack Obama, “Things are just going to get better.”

“More people will be covered. More small businesses will be able to offer health-care coverage to their employees,” Harkin said at an anniversary celebration in Des Moines organized by Iowa Citizen Action Network, “and we'll have new emphasis on keeping people healthy, preventing illness and keeping them out of the hospital in the first place, which, I believe, will do more to cut costs in the future than any other single thing we've done.”

Harkin, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee, also pledged to defend the Affordable Care Act from “misguided” attempts to repeal it.

“Anything that comes over to the Senate that repeals or undermines this law will not get past me,” he said.

He's open to suggestions on how to improve the law.

“This is not the 10 Commandment written in stone for all eternity,” Harkin said. "It's a law passed by imperfect lawmakers, but it is a huge step forward.”

As time goes by, Harkin said that support for the bill will grow.

Harkin's enthusiasm isn't shared by Americans, according to a new Gallup poll that found the nation nearly evenly split on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law. Gallup found 46 percent believe it was a good thing and 44 percent saying it was a bad thing.

As time goes by, Harkin said, and people learn more about the Affordable Care Act's benefits, support will grow.

“The more people learn about this bill … they won't let the hard-fought, hard-won victories be taken away,” he said. In the meantime, the law's supporters have to fend off “misperceptions, outright falsehoods about the bill … and some of that lingers yet today.”

Support for the law remains largely unchanged from the time Obama signed it, Gallup found. A year ago, 49 percent of Americans said the law was a good thing, while 40 percent disagreed.

Overall, most Americans remain skeptical about the law.  Just 39 percent believe it will improve health care for the nation and only 25 percent believe it will improve their personal health care. In both cases, more believe the law will make things worse rather than better.

However, Harkin and the Obama administration contend health-care reform is reducing costs for small businesses and seniors while strengthening Medicare, and offering new coverage options and improving the quality of coverage.

According to the White House, Iowa has received $22.7 million from the Affordable Care Act, including:

• $338,800 to support a consumer assistance program
• $1 million to plan for a Health Insurance Exchange
• $14.6 million to support capital development in community health centers
• $2.7 million from the Prevention and Public Health Fund
• $1.8 million in Therapeutic Discovery Project Program Tax Credits and Grants
• $214,700 for Medicare improvements for patients and providers
• $499,653 for aging and disability resource centers
• $748,054 for the Personal and Home Care Aide state training program
• $920,343 for Maternal, Infant and Childhood Home Visiting