By: CHRIS BISHOP
Burlington County Times
December 06, 2009

With health care and the war in Afghanistan grabbing headlines, the banking and credit crunch may have slipped from public attention.

Now U.S. Rep. John Adler and others in Congress have brought the issue back.

Adler has shown his support for increased oversight and transparency in the spending of the $700 billion federal Troubled Asset Relief Program by voting for the TARP Accountability and Disclosure Act.

By: Senior Airman Kenny Holston
509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs

11/26/2009 - JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. -- Airmen, Soldiers and Sailors took a break from the combat training field at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Nov. 26 to indulge in a Thanksgiving Day feast with supporters of the military from the local community.

Dear Friends,

I wanted to wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving.

Over the next few days, I look forward to spending time with my family, including my two college-age sons who are home for the weekend. For the fourth year in a row, I am helping to serve a Thanksgiving meal for troops stationed at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Over the past few months, I’ve had the chance to visit Israel and Afghanistan, and I am especially thankful for the brave members of our military and diplomatic missions who risk their lives to keep us free.

I am also thankful for your friendship and support. This Thanksgiving, we should also reflect on the strong character and resolve of our nation. Every day, I realize how blessed I am to be able to fight for New Jersey's families.

Happy Thanksgiving!

John Adler

By: John Adler
For Philadelphia Inquirer
Tue, Nov. 17, 2009

After months of debate over reforming the health-care system, I decided to vote against the bill that the House of Representatives passed a little more than a week ago.

I did not come to this decision lightly. Like many Americans, I spent the last few months talking with family members, friends, and neighbors about how to improve the health-care system. I hosted nearly 60 community meetings across South Jersey to share my thoughts and listen to the ideas and concerns of local residents.

Throughout this process, I have said that I strongly believe we need health-care reform in this country, and that any comprehensive plan needs to fulfill two goals: first, it has to provide access to quality health care for all Americans; and second, it must ensure that health care is more affordable in the long term.

While I support many elements of the House health-care bill, it moves us closer to meeting only the first goal.

I am pleased that the legislation makes great strides toward offering all Americans access to affordable health care; includes a public option; and cracks down on many of the insurance industry abuses that add to the high price of health care.

But the bill does not do enough to "bend the cost curve" or make health care more affordable for middle-class families and small businesses in the future. The United States spends more per capita on health care than any other country, and the House bill will not reverse that trend. While it is important to reform the system, we have to make sure we do it right.

Making health care affordable is one of my top priorities. More than 30 years ago, my father had his first heart attack. At the time, he owned a dry-cleaning business in Haddonfield and could not afford health insurance. The medical bills were unaffordable for my family, and my father was forced to leave the hospital and get back to work before he was ready. After three more heart attacks and expensive hospital stays, my father lost his business and died at the age of 47.

Three decades later, American families are still being priced out of the system. Every year, health-care costs rise faster than wages and inflation, and the burden ultimately falls on working families and small businesses.

The bill I voted against does not do enough to rein in costs or ensure that working Americans will be able to afford health care five or 10 years from now. We cannot reform the system by passing on the tough decisions to our children and grandchildren.

Congress should not be passing a plan that costs more than $1 trillion. We need to consider additional reforms that will improve the quality of care while also lowering costs.

We can squeeze more money out of the system by eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, and without having to raise taxes on working families or small businesses. We can change the philosophy of care by rewarding quality rather than quantity.

In addition, Congress should grant authority to an independent commission to review Medicare reimbursement rates. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that such a provision, which is in the Senate proposal but not in the House bill, would save $22 billion over five years.

Congress also should facilitate information coordination among health-care providers. We should allow small businesses to join together to get better health insurance rates. And we should allow health insurance plans to be sold across state lines.

We should also give people incentives to live healthier lives. I am a sponsor of a bill that would reduce premiums for Americans who exhibit healthy behaviors or make efforts to achieve normal blood pressure, normal weight, and low cholesterol.

We have a chance to solve this country's monumental health-care problems. We need to make the hard choices and produce a sustainable, long-term plan. I will continue my efforts to find reforms that benefit American families, seniors, taxpayers, and small businesses, and I hope to see an improved bill sent to the president later this year.

U.S. Rep. John Adler is a Democrat representing parts of Burlington, Camden, and Ocean Counties. He is a member of the House Financial Services and Veterans Affairs Committees.

By: Josh Goldstein
Inquirer Staff Writer
November 12, 2009

Rep. John Adler (D., N.J.) announced yesterday that he hopes to require the Department of Veterans Affairs to report to Congress the quality of all the small programs in its hospitals and other medical facilities.

The goal is to prevent a repeat of problems that plagued prostate cancer care at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center as well as programs at other VA hospitals.

Adler's legislation focuses on three areas: small programs, where medical errors and poor care are most likely to avoid detection; radiation safety; and contracts with private doctors and hospitals.

"This bill will ensure that the Department of Veterans Affairs takes steps to increase oversight and accountabilty of treatment programs like the failed brachytherapy program at the Philadelphia VA," Adler said yesterday.

Under the bill - the Veterans' Health and Radiation Safety Act, or HR 4062 - the VA would submit an annual report to Congress of all programs at its medical facilities that treat fewer than 100 patients a year.

Adler believes that will prevent those smaller programs from escaping scrutiny as happened at the Philadelphia VA, where the prostate brachytherapy program incorrectly dosed 98 of the 114 patients it treated with radioactive seed implants over six years.

Adler's bill also addresses two other criticisms raised by probes of the Philadelphia VA's brachytherapy program.

First is that the doctors, medical physicists, and nurses involved did not report the substandard treatments as required by federal regulations.

And second is that the Philadelphia VA's contract with the University of Pennsylvania department of radiation oncology to run the program was repeatedly renewed without an evaluation.

The bill would require weekly peer review of contracted services and written reports on contractors' performance.

It would also require that any VA employee or contractors in jobs that involve the use of radioactive material be trained in what is a reportable medical event.

The VA did not respond to comment requests on the bill.

Four local members of the House - Pennsylvania Democrats Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah, Allyson Y. Schwartz, and Joe Sestak - and two other Democrats on the Veterans Affairs Committee cosponsored the bill.