Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Michael Combier-Talk Radio News Service

The United States cannot endure another failure on health care reform like it did in 1993 and 2003 said journalists attending today’s Congressional Health Care Caucus. Bipartisan support exists in Congress to pass legislation, but citizens and the press need to be better informed of what the reform involves.

The healthcare debate is very important "because it is going to affect the lives of every American living today and coming in the next twenty, thirty, or forty decades," said U.S. Rep. Michael C. Burgess (R-TX) who was hosting the event.

National Public Radio’s Julie Rovner called herself "a veteran of the last go-round of health reform in 1993-1994" who is currently "hearing an awful lot of the same rhetoric coming from many of the same mouths."

Since the healthcare reform failure of 1993-1994 "a massive consensus has developed, almost completely bipartisan...on the need for health care reform," said Roll Call’s Mort Kondrake. This consensus is being reached due to what Americans are paying for health care coverage today. Currently, 16 percent of the nation's GDP is spent on health care by state and local governments.

Rovner urged Congress to take its time transforming the nation’s health care system. "People really don't understand, it doesn't give reporters enough time to really figure it out and then explain it back to the public...This debate maybe needs a little bit more time to play out."