The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
If Congress wants meaningful health care reform, its leaders must stop rushing to pass a bill and hold legislative hearings to air the pros and cons of specific proposals, U.S. Sen. Jim Webb said Thursday.
"My thought right now is to slow this down," the Virginia Democrat said. "Open it up. Have some hearings. Let people get their different viewpoints out in a very public way."
The problems today with angry people shouting at each other during community forums around the country and the confusion over what might be included in any health care overhaul have their roots in the Obama administration's failure to present a specific framework for reforms, he said.
Instead, the president has left to Congress the task of creating a proposal.
"We've got five different committees bubbling up legislation, and it's all supposed to come together," Webb said, but none of the panels have had Washington hearings in recent months.
While some of the issues with health care have been talked about for years, he said, there should be new hearings on specific proposals.
"By not having these hearings, I think we have encouraged the type of frustrated environment that's out there," Webb said during a meeting with The Virginian-Pilot's editorial board. The senator also spoke about the issue at a private Chamber of Commerce meeting in Norfolk.
"There's a lot of worry out there - a legitimate worry out there - that the government is going to stuff something down their throat in terms of the nature of the care they're going to receive," he said.
Webb has not scheduled any town hall gatherings with constituents to discuss health care because he doesn't believe they're necessary.
"We listen constantly. I don't need to go to a town hall meeting and have a thousand people screaming to say that we've been able to listen to them," he said. "We've responded to 34,000 pieces of mail and e-mail in our office on this issue."
Webb has said he favors overhauling health care to deal with rising prices and to provide coverage for people who are unable to get insurance. He has been supportive of a government insurance plan to compete with private insurance if it can lead to lower costs by competitive pricing.
He restated his desire to examine other systems as possible models for overhauling health care, including the Department of Veterans Affairs. Webb, who recently returned from a multi nation trip to Asia, said the United States also should take a harder look at health systems in Singapore and Switzerland.
Congress is scheduled to resume consideration of health care legislation when it returns Sept. 8 after a month long recess.
Bill Bartel, (757) 446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com
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Stumper
Asks yourselves one question:
Why is a 3rd world country like Costa Rica able to have public and private (Universal Health Coverage) with a low cost government and taxes?
Health care
I am all for reform. The issues I have is that I make $32,000 a year after takes. Now to have good coverage for my family of 6 I cough up $600/mos or a 1/3 of what is left. That is the issue I have, and then if I need to walk into an emergency room, it cost me $500 (why) before I even see a doctor and then I get bill from everyone I see while there. Cut my $600 a month premium by half and maintain the same care I receive for $600 and I'll be happy. Don't care about universal health care. Control premium and then have someone explain why I pay $3 for a 50 cent bandage. That is where you begin to control cost. Set up a Government panel to investigate them cost.
To Bizzare!
Let's see, a call for reasonable debate about a pressing national issue on health care is greeted with a baying mob calling for peoples heads? Curious why none of this uproar was not raised before we decided to invest 9 years of fruitless warfare in a distant land. We are just too clever for our own good. Blowing up things is more exciting than insuring that the sick and elderly are taken care off. No effective trusted government in America, but we are willing to build a government in Iraq and Afghanistan, if the military does it then it's OK. Let's let DoD propose a health care system for America. Then it will be part of national defense and everybody can make money off of it. A win-win.
lol
sorry you are so off the subject but i feel ya....lol
you want reform
here is a dirty four letter word for the democrats"tort" reform, you bring this up ,and it is like throwing holy water on the anti christ! lawyers geasing lawyers, that's all those law suites are about.you wonder why the lawyers guild is a major contributor to the democratic party, have friends who can manipulate the laws anyway deemed fit. start there web! idiots like john edwards who made his fortune off of frivolous suites, on hospitals,insurance company's and doctors.and he really cares about the poor! the federal govt has no business at all in my personal affairs, and here me webb, this is my business,not yours not obamma, kennedy, pelosi,reed,waxman,bush, kerry, Mcsame, or any other useless politician!go find some other crusade to waste my tax dollars on,like living up to your campaign promise,on getting us out of iraq!, oh yea amazing thats not an issue anymore is it!
RIGHT ON
one of the major factors in health care is tort reform that also goes hand in hand with malpractice insurance...we reform these two so that they are reasonable and do-able and then we have done something good.
Tort reform
is a factor, but only a minor factor. Medical malpractice lawsuits and insurance only contribute about 7% toward health cost increases (according to a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers).
States (like Virginia) that have already put caps on malpractice awards have not seen cost reductions.
Meanwhile, preventable medical errors kill thousands of Americans every year (according to independent studies by the National Institute of Health, Consumer Reports, and Hearst).
Health care reform with a public option would set the standard for medical quality reporting so that consumers could make informed decisions.
Where have all the baby doctors gone???
West Virginia is losing all their baby doctors because of lawsuits and subsequent malpractice insurance. Tort reform is not a minor issue - it is an issue that the bias has spun it under the rug so no one sees that doctors are ordering all the tests available to make sure they don't leave anything out so they are not liable for getting sued.
The simple point is that 7% doesn't seem like much but if you have 10 issues of 7% then you have 70% of the problem. Solve each one fairly and we can scream about the 30% that is left to deal with.
Hyprocracy
To continue the typical democrat double standard, now that Ted Kennedy has gone to that great scotch bar in the sky.... well maybe not in the sky; now the senate doesn't have the 60 vote filibuster. That toad wanted to reverse a law in Taxachusettes that calls for the governor to appoint a replacement to the senate until the next election. The same law he wanted and fought to get reversed because if Lurch became president then Mitt Romney (a republican) would appoint a republican to the senate to replace him. Imagine a republican occupying a Kennedy seat in the senate in Taxachusettes. OOooooh the pain. This is why democrats are afraid that the they may not be able to go against the public will and shove government healthcare down their throats.
LMAO
ach well laddie....the good senator is getting what he deserves...lol