http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/01/wyden_stimulus_will_include_health_it_insurance_ai.phpWyden: Stimulus Will Include Health IT, Insurance Aid For Unemployed
By Elana Schor - January 12, 2009, 4:27PM
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) knows how to build health care coalitions. From his seat on the Senate Finance Committee, he has watched the major health debates of the past decade -- from the 1994 Clinton flame-out onwards -- play out from the front row. His Healthy Americans Act helped lay the groundwork for Barack Obama's post-partisan movement on health reform by getting conservatives, progressives, and corporate interests together on a proposal to break the mold of traditional insurance. So he's got a pretty authoritative take on the health care proposals that are headed for inclusion in the stimulus bill.
"If there can be two good wins on health care early," he told me during a sit-down interview in his office today, "on SCHIP and COBRA for the uninsured, it's a bit of a down payment in terms of broader reform. It can build on that -- on Democrats and Republicans finding common ground."
Wyden added that reforming health information technology, allowing all Americans to have an electronic medical record within five years, is also on track to be part of the stimulus, for one simple reason: "It's a job creator."
SCHIP, the children's health insurance program administered by the states with federal help, is moving forward separately from the stimulus, headed for a quick reauthorization (and expansion) on the House floor and in Senate Finance this month, ahead of the March 31 deadline for renewal.
Adding COBRA aid to the stimulus bill, however, thus helping laid-off workers afford to keep their health care, would be a key victory for Wyden. The idea has met with positive signals from Republicans, making COBRA aid a helpful first step towards amassing broad support for major health care reform later in the year.
"Now, that's not comprehensive reform," he conceded. But Wyden pointed to the benefit of starting small will convince ordinary voters as well as business interests that a broad health care bill is coming. Under Bill Clinton, he pointed out, a broad reform bill was not delivered to Congress until more than a year after Election Day. This time, under Wyden's "down payment" theory, the stimulus can help the forthcoming health bill gain momentum.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
