Health Care Reform Not Responsible For Rising Cost Of Premiums, Say Democrats

By Chingyu Wang-Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) told reporters Friday that the rising cost of health care premiums does not mean that health care reform is not working.

"The purpose of this is to slow the growth. Premium rates are going to continue to go up, they are just not going to go up at the unsustainable pace they were," Franken said.

"[A higher premium] doesn't mean that we didn't bring down the growth of the premium," Franken added.

Franken pointed out that a provision in the new law requiring insurance providers to put at least 80% of premiums toward actual health services, instead of marketing campaigns, salaries or administrative costs, is expected to help curb increases.

Schakowsky added that measures in the law to boost transparency will also play a role in stemming costs. According to the Illinois Congresswoman, insurance providers will be required to provide customers with the justifications for rate increases. Schakowsky noted that companies that fail to provide this service will be banned from participating in the insurance exchanges set up through the law.

Doctors For America Rejoice Following Passage Of Health Care Reform

By Laurel Brishel Prichard University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service

Advocacy group Doctors For America expressed their excitement Monday over the passage of sweeping health care reform legislation the previous day. The doctors joined together from across the country in D.C. for a march and rally to congratulate the Senate and House for their work on health care reform.

“This legislation will go further and do more to fix the problems of the health care delivery system in my state then anything that I have seen proposed in the 27 years I’ve been here in the Senate,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) during a news conference for the association. “This is a great day for our country.”

The doctors, who wore patient identification bands to help associate themselves with their patients that are struggling with the cost of health care, will continue to urge the Senate to pass the reconciliation, which Bingaman says will be passed this week.

Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) warned that many new programs will have kinks in the beginning, but that health care reform is a monumental achievement for the nation.

“What you are seeing happen here is the beginning of an enormous change, it is not a change that is all done,’ said McDermott “We have to keep coming back and working on it just like we did with Medicare.”

The new reform should be treated like Medicare, according to McDermott, which has been amended every year since its enactment in 1965. One of the amendments that McDermott and Doctors For America pressed hope to create is a program to help future doctors, dentists and nurses with the ever rising cost of school for those fields.

“This bill tells all Americans who are suffering with chronic conditions, whose insurance companies set a lifetime or annual cap on their benefits, that those days are over this year,” Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL.) said.

Congressmen Talk Health Care With Religious Leaders

by Julianne LaJeunesse- University of New Mexico

U.S. Representatives Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Keith Ellison (D-MN) spoke at an interfaith hearing Wednesday, where each agreed that the public option is a vital part of health care reform.

At the American Muslim Taskforce-sponsored hearing, Kucinich, who called for the interfaith community's opinion on health care, said that Americans need to look at health care as a human rights issue.

"Health care is an essential safeguard of human life and dignity," Kucinich said. "And there is an obligation for society to ensure that every person be able to realize that right."

Representative Ellison furthered Kucinich's sentiment, and reminded listeners that health care reform could take time to perfect, just as the 1960s Civil Rights Acts did.

Ellison also said he believed Congress had America on its side, despite what he said was insurance company scare tactics. He petitioned the religious leaders at the hearing to debunk scare tactics saying the religions should work together.

"This is not the time for cynicism, this is to think that 'well, Washington is going to do what Washington generally does...,' this is the time for us to run a risk of hope," Ellison said.

All of the Congressmen agreed that the House bills were looking favorably toward a public option and Schakowsky said "I think that leaving it to the private companies whose motive, it's not a hidden one, of course... is to maximize profits, to leave them as the only source of getting health care, I think will disable us from achieving our goal of universal access to affordable, quality health care in our country."

Kucinich said it would be tragic if Congress' health care reform does not have a public option, saying it would essentially deepen the pockets of insurance companies who could set unfair rates on mandated customers.

"We're talking about a system that maintains the hegemony of the insurance companies," Kucinich said. "Can you take a step towards breaking it with a public option? Yes. So within the context of the system that we're talking about today, public option is important.

The hearing today, included members of the Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and Jewish communities, a faith representation, Ellison said, is important to the current health care reform debate.

Both Kucinich and American Muslim Taskforce Board Member Mahdi Bray took the outlines of health care reform further, saying they both advocate a single-payer system.