Senators say finding middle ground on a public insurance plan is a key to health care overhaul
By Douglass K. Daniel, APSunday, July 5, 2009
Senators say compromise key to health care bill
WASHINGTON — It will take a compromise on a government option for insurance if the Senate is to agree on a health care overall before next month’s break, two senators said Sunday.
President Barack Obama is pushing for an Aug. 8 deadline for the Senate and House to vote on proposals that would reduce medical costs and provide coverage for the nearly 50 million of Americans who are uninsured. Obama says he wants to sign a bill by October.
“We’ll get this done because we’re doing it in a bipartisan way,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee. “If we can reach a compromise, we can get this done by Aug. 8 or at least get it out of committee by Aug. 8.”
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., also a committee member, said compromise is possible but that senators can’t “take things off the table altogether,” a reference to the Democrats’ desire to include a government insurance option.
That is a sticking point for Republicans. They see a public or government insurance plan as unfair to the private insurance industry and the first step to nationalized health care. Obama and most fellow Democrats argue that a government plan would keep costs down and give consumers another option.
Grassley also warned that requiring companies with 25 or more employees to provide insurance or pay a fine — another proposal favored by most Democrats — would hurt small businesses and put many of them out of business. But he said the proposal for a government-run insurance program is the greater obstacle.
Schumer said that while he supports a public option he also is open to discussing the use of nonprofit insurance cooperatives as competitors to established insurance companies.
“I am not saying that the public option should be the only option. There are some who do say that, particularly in my party. But we shouldn’t say there should be no public option,” he said.
On the possibility of cooperatives as an option, Grassley said: “If they’re within what we have known of cooperatives and the concept of cooperation for the last 150 years, I think we can reach a favorable compromise, and then enhance competition and enhance it in the private sector.”
Ohio Rep. John Boehner, the House GOP leader, said the public option and the employer mandate were “deal-breakers” for his colleagues.
The Democratic approach to mandating health insurance through employer and individual mandates will “lead to higher costs, rationing, and lower quality health care delivery,” Boehner said.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., compared requiring all Americans to have health insurance with mandating that drivers carry auto insurance.
“We want everybody in the system,” Hoyer said. “That will bring costs down.”
Grassley and Schumer appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation” while Boehner and Hoyer appeared on “Fox News Sunday.”
Tags: Government Programs, Health Care Industry, North America, United States, Us-health-care-overhaul, Washington
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July 6, 2009: 1:39 am
AMERICA’S NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! It’s official. America and the World are now in a GLOBAL PANDEMIC. A World EPIDEMIC with potential catastrophic consequences for ALL of the American people. The first PANDEMIC in 41 years. And WE THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES will have to face this PANDEMIC with the 37th worst quality of healthcare in the developed World. STAND READY AMERICA TO SEIZE CONTROL OF YOUR NATIONAL HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. We spend over twice as much of our GDP on healthcare as any other country in the World. And Individual American spend about ten times as much out of pocket on healthcare as any other people in the World. All because of GREED! And the PRIVATE FOR PROFIT healthcare system in America. And while all this is going on, some members of congress seem mostly concern about how to protect the corporate PROFITS! of our GREED DRIVEN, PRIVATE FOR PROFIT NATIONAL DISGRACE. A PRIVATE FOR PROFIT DISGRACE that is in fact, totally valueless to the public health. And a detriment to national security, public safety, and the public health. Progressive democrats the Tri-Caucus and others should stand firm in their demand for a robust public option for all Americans, with all of the minimum requirements progressive democrats demanded. If congress can not pass a robust public option with at least 51 votes and all robust minimum requirements, congress should immediately move to scrap healthcare reform and request that President Obama declare a state of NATIONAL HEALTHCARE EMERGENCY! Seizing and replacing all PRIVATE FOR PROFIT health insurance plans with the immediate implementation of National Healthcare for all Americans under the provisions of HR676 (A Single-payer National Healthcare Plan For All). Coverage can begin immediately through our current medicare system. With immediate expansion through recruitment of displaced workers from the canceled private sector insurance industry. Funding can also begin immediately by substitution of payroll deductions for private insurance plans with payroll deductions for the national healthcare plan. This is what the vast majority of the American people want. And this is what all objective experts unanimously agree would be the best, and most cost effective for the American people and our economy. In Mexico on average people who received medical care for A-H1N1 (Swine Flu) with in 3 days survived. People who did not receive medical care until 7 days or more died. This has been the same results in the US. But 50 million Americans don’t even have any healthcare coverage. And at least 200 million of you with insurance could not get in to see your private insurance plans doctors in 2 or 3 days, even if your life depended on it. WHICH IT DOES! If President Obama has to declare a NATIONAL STATE OF EMERGENCY to rescue the American people from our healthcare crisis, he will need all the sustained support you can give him. STICK WITH HIM! He’s doing a brilliant job. THIS IS THE BIG ONE! THE BATTLE OF GOOD Vs EVIL! Join the fight. Contact congress and your representatives NOW! AND SPREAD THE WORD! God Bless You Jacksmith – WORKING CLASS |
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