Health Care Reform Twenty Years From Now

By Kleinheider Posted on March 16, 2009 at 7:53 am

Time Magazine reports on Rep. Jim Cooper’s efforts to get the country moved away from employer-based health coverage:

Still, Wyden and Cooper’s plan is considered a long shot. The political wisdom in Washington suggests that for any proposal to actually stand a chance, it would have to build on the existing employer-based system. For much the same reason, few believe that “single payer” health care — a government-financed system similar to Medicare — will be given any serious consideration. As one Administration official put it in describing the Wyden plan: “A lot of people think this is where the system should be 20 years from now, but no one see how it can be there two years from now.”

Despite those doubts, Wyden and Cooper continue to lobby the committee chairmen and ranking members of the five panels that have jurisdiction over the issue on Capitol Hill. “We want to be team players,” Wyden says. But they also note that time is quickly running out if lawmakers are to meet their self-imposed deadline of having a bill passed out of both chambers before the August recess. So they are watching the informal negotiations that are underway on both sides of the Capitol carefully. All they need, they say, is the right opening. Or at least a seat at the table.

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Tags: employer based health insurance, health care reform, Jim Cooper  

Health Care Czar DeParle: ‘Time To Act Is Now’

By Kleinheider Posted on March 11, 2009 at 9:55 am

The Tennessean at the head of the White House Office for Health Reform makes the case for action:

Some have suggested that we should put off fixing the system because times are tough; that we can’t afford to tackle healthcare until we fix the economy. The reality is that if we want to fix the economy, we can’t afford not to tackle healthcare.

As the president said in his opening remarks Thursday, “Healthcare reform is no longer just a moral imperative, it is a fiscal imperative. If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy, then we must address the crushing cost of healthcare this year, in this administration.”

Exploding costs are bankrupting families and burdening businesses, dragging down state and local budgets, and piling up our national debt. The time to act is now.

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Tags: health care czar, health care reform, Nancy Ann DeParle, White House Office for Health Reform