Senators look to early June for health care reform legislation

Health care reform is the best interest of our country as a whole. It’s no longer something that can easily be categorized as either your problem or mine, nor can it be separated from the issue of economic recovery.

The overwhelming problems in our health care system affect us all — American businesses large and small, families, and individuals. The system simply cannot continue on in its current form and there are few left who would argue that. If it’s economic stability we want, health care costs from all sources must be contained. As more people fall into the category of the uninsured, everyone pays the price.

We’ve been doing a great job of talking about comprehensive health care reform for decades, but while we’ve been talking, the problem has escalated to crisis levels. It’s time to act.

In an April 20, 2009 letter to President Obama, Senator Max Baucus (Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee)and Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee) said:

“For nearly a year, we have been working together toward the shared goal of significant reforms to our health care system. We must act swiftly, because the cost of inaction is too high for individuals, families, businesses, state and federal governments. Comprehensive health care reform legislation will responsibly contain costs, improve quality, enhance disease prevention, and provide coverage to all Americans. We are committed to working with you, and with our colleagues in Congress, to enact legislation to achieve these long-overdue reforms without delay. We are writing to you today to let you know of the schedule for committee action that we intend to follow to meet this goal.”

They went on to say that their respective committees plan to mark-up legislation in early June that could be quickly merged into a single bill for consideration in the Senate.

Early June. Sounds like a beginning. I, for one, am anxious to see what they come up with.

Read more: health policy

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Past Member .

4:24PM PDT on Apr 22, 2009

There are two main arguments in favor of single payer health care.

THE MORAL ETHICAL ARGUMENT

The first is the ethical moral argument. Health insurance companies make their profit by denying health care to sick people. That is immoral and unethical.

THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT

The second compelling argument is economic. Our current system of for-profit corporate health insurance has created an unbearable economic burden on the nation.
There are over 100 separate health insurance companies operating under different sets of rules creating a huge 30 % administrative overhead. For comparison, administrative overhead for Medicare is only 2%.

By converting to a single payer system, we immediately save 300 billion dollars in administrative overhead.

As a nation, we are now paying twice what other countries pay for health care, yet we do not have universal health coverage here in the US. 50 million Americans are without healthcare and 87 million Americans without health insurance at some point in the past 2 years. Almost half the bankruptcies currently filed in the United States are because of medical bills.

Despite the costs we pay, the United States ranks LAST on a list of 19 industrialized nations in preventable deaths, and 29th of 37 in infant mortality. The World Health Organization ranks the US at 72nd for healthcare accessibility and efficiency. We can no longer maintain the status quo for the ways we currently provide and pay for health care.

ASK your Sen

send a green star

Bruce D.

8:55AM PDT on Apr 22, 2009

What is the significance of the picture at the beginning of the article? It looks like the senator is trying to take his pulse, but it in the incorrect area of the wrist. Quite significant if you are trying to say that Congressmen don't know much about Health Care! This is a very, very complex, multifaceted overwhelming problem with multiple ramifications. I am not sure that I want a system that is brought to us by the same people that brought us the Post Office and Income Tax.

Toni L.

7:50AM PDT on Apr 22, 2009

I would love to see a national health care plan. My only reservation about this is that I am a supporter of CAM and integrative health practitioners. Right now I have the freedom to choose their care. Once things are nationalized, alternative medicine could be kept out by those who oppose CAM and want alternative medicine choices eliminated. This would be of course the main-stream medical field who could lose market to integrated medicine. Their lobby is extremely strong. They have a strong lobby in Congress to ensure that legislation is crafted in their favor and against their opponents. This might be the tragic result of nationalization. Although integrative health care is the European Standard, it could be left out of a nationalized health plan here due to innate discrimination built into our current health care system here.

11:56AM PDT on Apr 21, 2009

Thanks Ann!

Max Baucus and others are blocking even the consideration of a public option. We’ve got to act!

HERE'S SOMETHING TO INVESTIGATE AND TO DISSEMINATE IN THE MEDIA:  

From the article: “Baucus Draws Big Money From The Health Industry” http://www.billingsnews.com/stories/index/668  

"A new study released this week by a California advocacy group shows that U.S. Sen. Max Baucus has received more campaign contributions from health insurance firms and pharmaceutical manufacturers over the past four years than any other Democrat in Congress.” 

According to the Consumer Watchdog study (www.consumerwatchdog.org) using Federal Election Commission data, Sen. Baucus has received $413,000 since 2005 from insurance companies and drug makers, third behind U.S. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky."   

Tell Senator Baucus that A NON-PROFIT PUBLIC OPTION FOR ALL AMERICANS and SINGLE-PAYER REFORM, SHOULD BE ON THE TABLE AND GIVEN FULL AND FAIR HEARINGS BY THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE. 

Write to Baucus: http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue

E-mail your Senators and Representatives. You can find your elected officials’ contact information here: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

The facts are here:
http://www.opensecrets.org/races/indus.php?cycle=2008&id=MTS2
http://www.change.org/ideas/294/view_action/sen_baucus_we_need_accurate_numbers_not_