The House Vote

While we commend the House of Representatives for its commitment to extend health coverage to more Americans, we look forward to this debate moving to the U.S. Senate and an opportunity to enact legislation that is centrist, sustainable and that achieves the true goals of health reform.

We feel that an opportunity is being lost in this debate.  Improving our nation’s healthcare system is a task that should bring Americans together.  Rather, as polls show and today’s House session underscored, this debate is highly partisan and divisive.  Legislation of this magnitude should not be passed by one party over the objection of the majority of Americans.

The House bill raises many concerns.  It includes overly prescriptive federal rulemaking on health insurance benefits and costs that will make coverage more expensive for all.  It includes the unnecessary creation of a new government-run health plan that will inevitably hurt physicians and hospitals and their patients and undermine competition in the health coverage marketplace.  It significantly expands Medicaid at a time when states are struggling to cope with their current Medicaid responsibilities.  It makes substantial cuts in Medicare that will have an impact on patients while also including provisions that will significantly increase premiums for the millions of seniors in the Medicare Part D prescription drug program.  And, it fails to include essential medical liability reform that would address the rising costs of defensive medicine.

There is still time to bring health reform back to the political center and enact bipartisan solutions addressing the health insurance reform, delivery reform and payment reform challenges that Americans want answered.