The Debate Over Health Care

With Senator Obama elected as the 44th president of the United States, Americans can expect that a Democratic president and Congress will push for comprehensive health care reform. The debate over universal health care coverage is underway and is being led by Senator Edward Kennedy. I think it's a debate and reform that is certainly going to be welcomed by many Americans.

Kennedy to Move on Health When Obama Gives Go-Ahead
By Aliza Marcus

Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Edward Kennedy's staff is holding regular meetings with interest groups to translate President-elect Barack Obama's health-care plan into legislation that can be passed by Congress, an aide said.

Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, will take his "cues from the Obama White House'' and expects that Congress will act on a measure in Obama's first term, said Michael Myers, staff director of Kennedy's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, at a conference today in Washington.

Obama has proposed expanding government health programs, giving subsidies to low-income families and requiring that insurers cover everyone, regardless of their medical condition. Kennedy, who is under treatment for brain cancer, told the Democratic convention in August that providing "decent, quality health care'' to everyone is "the cause of my life,'' and he pledged to return to Congress in January to achieve it.

"The question is no longer whether we will pursue health reform, but when and exactly in what form,'' said Myers, speaking at a forum organized by the Washington policy group Families USA. "It's the first, second and third item on our committee's agenda.''

Kennedy's committee, trying to avoid repeating Hillary Clinton's failed attempt to rework health care in 1993-94 during her husband Bill's first term as president, is talking with different advocacy and interest groups to produce a plan with broad support.

Change Anticipated

Health-care providers and policy groups know the status quo isn't acceptable, said Ron Pollack, Families USA's executive director.

"There is an effort to find a common ground,'' Pollack said. "I have never seen such interest in getting to 'yes.'''

Obama has estimated that making affordable coverage available to all Americans would cost up to $65 billion annually, with another $250 billion over five years to develop computerized health records throughout the country.

Congress last year insisted that any new legislation be paid for with revenue from other sources, such as tax increases, or spending cuts, to avoid increasing the budget deficit.

Kennedy's staff is looking for ways to save money in the $2.2 trillion health-care system. There's also the possibility that not "every penny and every dime'' spent will be paid for in advance, Myers said.

"All of these discussions are just beginning,'' he said.

Baucus's Proposals

Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is expected to release his proposals next week about how to provide universal health-care coverage. Some 15 percent of the U.S. population is uninsured.

Baucus's committee has jurisdiction over government health programs such as Medicaid, for low-income people, and the chairman held hearings this year on the high cost of care and how to make health insurance markets more efficient.

The proposals will be an "important contribution to the debate,'' Myers said, even as Kennedy plans that his committee will produce the sole legislative measure to change the health system.

Kennedy has "articulated a strategy that he calls the one bill strategy,'' Myers said. "We've learned from the lessons of the past.''