During Hearing With Governors, Sen. Murray Highlights Further Bipartisan Steps to Restore Health Care Certainty
Today, the
Once again,
NOTE: Next week,
Key Excerpts from
"As a starting point, even if we don't all agree on the cause, we do agree on the problem itself: families are facing higher premiums and fewer options as a result of uncertainty in our health care system. And
"And it's not just
"Because as I said yesterday, this needs to be a conversation about moving our health care system forward, not backward. It is certainly not an opportunity to roll back protections for patients--or a chance to hand power back over to insurance companies. I hope we can focus on areas of common ground, rather than getting bogged down in the extreme ideology that drove the Trumpcare debate. If we can do this, I believe a bipartisan agreement on health care reform is possible. Certainly not easy--but possible."
Video of
Full Excerpts from
Thank you, Chairman Alexander.
As I said yesterday--after so much partisanship around the future of health care in our country, I'm very glad these hearings give us an opportunity to take a different approach, and hopefully find some common ground.
I appreciate your leadership in starting this conversation, and I'm grateful to all of our colleagues for joining us.
I of course want to thank Governors Baker, Bullock, Haslam, Herbert, and Hickenlooper in particular for taking the time to share your insights.
Governors have added valuable perspective to the health care discussion so far
I'm glad the Committee will have the chance to get your input as we enter this next phase of working to stabilize markets and lower costs for our constituents in the near term.
The truth is, there is actually a lot many
As a starting point, even if we don't all agree on the cause, we do agree on the problem itself: families are facing higher premiums and fewer options as a result of uncertainty in our health care system.
And
To give just a few examples,
We'll need long-term stability for this program if we want insurers to stop worrying about uncertainty long enough to actually lower premiums for patients.
Senators Kaine and Carper put forward legislation to help with coverage costs for the sickest patients. Senators McCaskill and Schatz have proposals on how we prevent "bare counties" going forward.
Many of us are also interested in ensuring open enrollment is as effective as possible this year given the President's decision to slash efforts to help more people get covered.
And it's not just
Governors Kasich and Hickenlooper have put forward a plan including many policies that parallel those I've mentioned--and their plan should help inform our conversation here in
I was especially pleased the Governors' plan would maintain protections in current law for patients like those with pre-existing conditions, and women seeking maternity care.
Because as I said yesterday, this needs to be a conversation about moving our health care system forward, not backward.
It is certainly not an opportunity to roll back protections for patients--or a chance to hand power back over to insurance companies.
I hope we can focus on areas of common ground, rather than getting bogged down in the extreme ideology that drove the Trumpcare debate.
If we can do this, I believe a bipartisan agreement on health care reform is possible. Certainly not easy--but possible.
And I am very hopeful we'll not only succeed, but be able to build on the near-term steps to tackle larger challenges families continue to face in getting the care they need.
I want to thank Chairman Alexander, our colleagues, and each of the governors here today again for being here.
I'm looking forward to our discussion and continued work together.
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