Blue Dog Democrat: Health Care Negotiations Becoming "Very, Very Hard"

As the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s fiscally conscious Blue Dog Democrats and Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) continue to struggle for a compromise on the Committee’s draft of health care reform legislation, one Blue Dog shared her insight on the process.

“I think this is getting hard. Very, very hard,” Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) told reporters Tuesday. “The clock is ticking...but there are big differences over the view on the best way to get to health care reform.”

While Harman serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, she is not one of the seven Blue Dogs currently involved in the negotiations. Harman stated that while she does sympathize with her fellow Blue Dogs over cost concerns, she favors a “robust public option”.

Comments

[Michael Sherman]

Honorable "Blue Dog" Democrats:

Throwing away prematurely-born infants and Health Care Reform.

I represent many pediatricians who know that this health care bill will decide what handicapped children will be offered no more care. I never thought the US Congress would pass subtle euthanasia as the law of the land to save money. How can Congress treat our youngest citizens with such unethical behavior?

Look at a report in the AAP journal Pediatrics that was published this month [July]. The research found preterm infants on Medicaid were more likely to die or be handicapped than preemies covered by private insurance. And you personally are supporting this horror called Health Care Reform on these defenseless citizens.

The bill is a prevention bill. It will prevent access to health care, and in turn, it will save health care costs because there are fewer tests and less technology is needed.

Why can't all Americans have the health care plan that covers the President, the Senate, and the House of Representatives? The answer is that the American public are less worry citizens than Congress and President Obama.

The 2010 election cannot come soon enough now that we understand what "HOPE" means to President Obama. Children are "out of hope".

Michael P. Sherman, MD, FAAP
Professor of Child Health, University of Missouri-Columbia
Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics, University of California-Davis

[Cut Costs, Then Increase Cover]

Dr. Sherman,

I commend your intent but your thinking is flawed. Medicaid preterm infants are a different demographic - ethnically, socioeconomically, etc. - than preemies covered by private insurance.

Health care costs and health care inflation are out of control. Any good legislation cuts costs first and realigns incentives AND protects more Americans - including all preemies - from all catastrophic health problems, then increases coverage.

To increase coverage without cutting costs is reckless given our deficit and weak economy.