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Senate delays vote on health care reform until the fall
At a town hall meeting on health care reform in Ohio yesterday, President Barack Obama said he was OK that the Senate will fail to meet his August deadline for voting on a health care bill.
“[Let] me just be clear,” the president said during the meeting. “If there’s not a deadline in Washington, nothing happens. … And, you know, we just heard today that, well, we may not be able to get the bill out of the Senate by the end of August — or the beginning of August. That’s OK. I just want people to keep on working.”
News of the delay in the Senate came on the heels of a televised news conference on Wednesday in which the president pushed for health care reform.
A difficult issue
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced that the group would not vote on health care until the fall when it is expected to merge a portion of a Senate Finance Committee bill with another bill that was passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Orthopedics Today Editorial Board member Alan H. Morris, MD, said he was disappointed but not surprised by Reid’s announcement.
“The president’s timeline was very aggressive,” Morris told Orthopedics Today. “I believe that he, his staff and the Democratic leaders in Congress knew all along that a final bill would not be ready in this short a time. Forcing the question, however, keeps the issue No. 1 in importance.”
He added: "The president surely knew what Sen. Reid was going to announce. I am sure the opposition party and its pundits will call this a slap in the face for the president, but the message only speaks to how difficult the issue is to resolve.”
Closer than ever to reform
During the town hall meeting in Ohio, the president fielded questions concerning the timing of health care reform legislation.
“Whenever I hear people say that it’s happening too soon, I think that's a little odd. We’ve been talking about health care reform since the days of Harry Truman. How could it be too soon?” he said during the meeting.
“I don't think it’s too soon for the families who’ve seen their premiums rise faster than wages year after year. It’s not too soon for the businesses forced to drop coverage or shed workers because of mounting health care expenses. It’s not too soon for taxpayers asked to close widening deficits that stem from rising health care costs — costs that threaten to leave our children with a mountain of debt," Obama said.
He also said the federal government was closer than ever to achieving health care for all Americans and pointed to Republicans as attempting to delay and defeat reform.
Obama also reiterated his comfort with the Senate’s progress, but stressed that he did not want a delay due to politics and fear of controversy.
“My attitude is I want to get it right, but I also want to get it done promptly,” the president said. “And so as long as I see folks working diligently and consistently, then I am comfortable with moving a process forward that builds as much consensus as possible.
“Our target date is to get this done by the fall. That’s the bottom line,” he said.
AMA president speaks
In a prepared statement this week, American Medical Association (AMA) President J. James Rohack, MD, also stressed the need for health care reform legislation.
“The status quo is unacceptable. The AMA has made clear its commitment to health reform this year,” he said in the statement.
“Congress must take action to expand coverage to the uninsured through a choice of plans and eliminate denials for pre-existing conditions, include prevention and wellness initiatives, address medical liability reform and repeal the broken Medicare physician payment system that harms seniors’ access to care. Without repeal, physicians face payment cuts of nearly 40% over the next 5 years that will force them to limit the number of seniors they can treat — right as the baby boomers begin aging into Medicare.
“The AMA will stay engaged to get a final bill this year that improves the system for patients and physicians signed into law. Physicians are at the heart of the health care system, and the AMA considers its position at the center of the health reform debate an honor and serious responsibility,” Rohack said.
For more information:
- Alan H. Morris, MD, can be reached at 8318 Kingsbury Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63105; 314-725-3333 e-mail: morrisalan@sbcglobal.net.
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