Mongiardo said there is a major problem in health care in Kentucky and across the nation, and big changes are needed to make health care more affordable and the system more effective and efficient.
"I've been state senator now for two terms, and I've been working in Frankfort to try to solve our problems in health care," said the state senator. "As you all know, we've got a major problem going on right now in health care."
One of the main focal points of this discussion was the senior citizens prescription drug plan.
"It's very complicated and very complex," Mongiardo said. "I've read a lot about it and it's still very, very complicated."
He said the drawbacks of the plan seem to far outweigh its benefits.
"The good part is that it does give some help for the cost of prescription drugs," Mongiardo said. "The bad part is it's going to cost a lot out of your pocket to get a little bit of help.... If you pay $5,000 for drugs, you have to take out of your pocket $4,000 to get that, so it's only going to reduce your cost by about 25 percent,"
"That's not good enough," he said. "My patients can't afford that, and I know you can't afford that. What this bill does it makes it illegal for us to negotiate with drug companies for a lower price."
Mongiardo said the law also makes it a felony to import drugs from Canada, where the average cost for the same drugs is up to 70 percent less than in the United States.
"Instead of paying a dollar, they're paying 30 cents for the same drugs," he said. "I think that's wrong. Not only are they saying we cannot reimport drugs, but if you go to Canada, with a prescription from a doctor here ... and you buy the same drug up there for 70 percent less, you come back across the border, guess what, they're going to arrest you and put you in handcuffs ... and take you to jail because they've made it a felony they've made it a felony like shooting somebody."
Mongiardo said the entire state is facing a major health care crisis.
"We're seeing it first in rural areas of Kentucky, but it's going on all over the state," he said.
He also explained that the effects of the health care crisis are hurting the economy because corporations are moving out the country due to the high cost of health insurance.
"This is a federal issue this is something that has to be solved on a federal level and that's why I'm running for U.S. Senate," said Mongiardo.
Mongiardo said if elected to the U.S. Senate, he would work to make Kentucky the hub of a national E-Health network.
"In order to reduce the cost of health care, ... we have to make health care more efficient," he explained. "And that's implementing the use of information technology. As we go from a paper-based health care delivery system to a computer-based health care delivery system, all information will flow through a central hub. My goal is to make Kentucky that central hub for the entire nation.
"That will drive in 21st century jobs to Kentucky, manufacturing jobs that manufacture the devices of the new health care delivery system, but also high-tech jobs like software development jobs, networking jobs, the type of jobs that our children need and want. We will change the face of the economy of the state of Kentucky based on health care if we do this."
Mongiardo said lawmakers in Washington are already looking at Kentucky's legislation in E-Health area as a model for national standards.
"All experts in the country know that we have to use information technology to make health care more efficient," he said.
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