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Volume 12 Number 31
ISSN 1091-4021
Friday, February 15, 2007

News: Access

A bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) has asked President Bush to work with them to "fix the nation's health care system," and has proposed some principles for reform.

The White House reacted favorably to a Feb. 13 letter to Bush from the group. A White House spokesman told BNA Feb. 14 that "we're very positive on this, and see it as a sincere effort to try to find some common ground."

In their letter, the senators told Bush that they would "like to work with you and your Administration to pass legislation in this Congress" embodying six elements:

• ensuring that all Americans would have affordable, quality, private health coverage, while protecting current government programs;
• modernizing federal tax rules for health coverage to avoid the tendency in the current rules to "favor the most affluent, while promoting inefficiency";
  
  
• creating more opportunities and incentives for states to design their own health solutions;
  
  
• a switch in emphasis from the current focus on sick care to the creation of "a culture of wellness through prevention strategies";
  
  
• encouraging more cost-effective chronic and compassionate end-of-life care; and
  
  
• improving access to information on price and quality of health services.

In addition to Wyden, the group consists of Sens. Robert Bennett (R-Utah), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), Trent Lott (R-Miss.), Ken Salazar (D-Colo.), and John Thune (R-S.D.).

White House Interested

White House spokesman Tony Fratto told BNA that, while the senators were not endorsing Bush's own proposals for health care reform, "they certainly are saying, 'You've put some interesting ideas on the table, some of which we agree with, and we have some ideas. We'd like to come to the table and talk about ways we can work together to try to find something that we both can agree to.'... It's a good sign, especially in this environment. "

Of the six elements mentioned in the letter, Fratto said, the comments on tax were particularly interesting. "The recognition of the unfairness of the tax code, which the president laid out, is something that we feel very strongly about," he said.

In their letter, the senators stressed the urgency of the issue. "Further delay is unacceptable as costs continue to skyrocket, our population ages, and chronic illness increases," the group said. "In addition, our businesses are at a severe disadvantage when their competitors in the global market get health care for 'free.'"

The senators said they did not share the view of some that the Senate was too divided to pass comprehensive health care legislation. "We disagree with those who believe that this issue should not come up until after the next presidential election," they said. "We disagree with those who want to wait when the American people are saying, loud and clear, 'We want to fix health care now.'"

Text of the letter.