Udall says works still need to be done...bill not 'perfect'

U.S. Senator Tom Udall, D-NM, today voted in favor of historic health care reform legislation despite the fact he says this "bill is not perfect."

Udalls says the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will expand health care coverage to 31 million Americans, including an additional 305,000 New Mexicans.

Obama talks health care in weekly address

The President used his weekly address to talk about the consumer protections that will be passed as part of health insurance reform, and calls on the Senate to allow an up-or-down vote.

Now we're learning a deal has been struck with Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson and that it appears the Senate will adopt a health care reform bill soon.

The Albuquerque Journal's Michael Coleman has details on the Friday night handshake deal that will likely lead to a vote before Christmas.

Morning news brief from 770KKOB

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Health bill compromises
The public insurance option that most senate Democrats wanted to include in health care reform legislation appears dead, as does a Medicare buy-in plan. But Democrats are nearing a compromise on the bill as they come to terms with the idea that they're not going to get everything they want in the nearly $1 trillion bill.

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Senators promise to fight for the public option

by Peter St. Cyr

Two healthcare-insurance measures continue to move forward in the nation's capitol this week, and both U.S. Senators from New Mexico are pledging to keep the public option alive.

But, reform still faces an arduous trek through Capitol Hill and on to the president's desk.

"I'm going to, at every stage, try to make sure that a public option is included. It's a serious fight. It's hard to predict. I'd say right now it's about 50-50," Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM) said.

"I believe this is the best way to keep insurance honest, (and) bring down costs. It will also get more uninsured small business employees and families insured,” Udall said.

U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, who has sits on Senate Finance Committee, and has been on the 'gang of six' senators developing the America's Healthy Future Act, was on the winning side of a 14 to 9 vote on Tuesday.

The measure can now be merged with a bill approved earlier this year by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and debated on the Senate floor. As the only Democrat who serves on both the HELP and Finance Committees, Bingaman was in a unique position to influence both pieces of legislation.

“We have been talking about health insurance reform for decades. With this vote, we’re finally on a path to enacting it,” Bingaman said. “This bill reduces the growth in health care costs, which is important to all American families but particularly important to New Mexican families, who are expected to experience the highest growth in premiums in the nation if reform is not enacted.

The Act would prevent insurance companies from denying health insurance to Americans because they have pre-existing conditions.

"It also prevents insurance companies from capping coverage at an annual or lifetime level," Bingaman said. "And, if Americans like the coverage they have, they can keep it Bingaman said. In short, it is a very good bill for Americans and, in particular New Mexicans, who already have insurance.”

Bingaman is a strong supporter of the public option -- a health care plan available to all Americans receiving coverage in newly formed health insurance “exchanges” that focuses exclusively on providing care, not turning a profit. The Finance Committee bill does not contain a public option, but Bingaman is hopeful that the final bill sent to the president contains a public option or another plan that would provide an affordable health care plan for all Americans to choose from.

Udall emerges as a public option leader on the Senate Floor

On October 8th, Udall, along with 29 other senators, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). The senators expressed concern that without a competitive and robust public insurance option, health reform legislation will not produce nationwide access and ongoing cost containment.

On Wednesday, Udall told New Mexico radio reporters (via a teleconference call) that he's pleased two bills have emerged -- one from the Senate Finance Committee, the second from the Health Care Committee.

"This is another crucial step towards insuring access to quality affordable health care for everyone," Udall said.

"What I like about the bill is that we move dramatically down the road of insuring more Americans. I also like the fact that this is deficit neutral. It's about a $829 billion dollar bill. The projection of the CBO (Congressional Budget Office) is that it actually saves $81 billion down the road. So that's something that is obviously positive."

No predictions

Udall said it would be hard to predict where the public option will be inserted into the final measure.

In Washington there are three avenues still available to lawmakers to insert the public option. It could be inserted during the process of merging the two committees, during floor debate, or by the president and congressional leaders during a conference report.

"We had a small meeting with a group of senators, very privately with Sen. Harry Reid," Udall said. "We urged him to meld it in as he's developing a bill for the senate floor. I would like it to be the base bill that proceeds to the Senate floor. If that can't be done, I know that many of us feel that one of our opportunities is to add it to the senate floor. If not, we're going to be pushing to have it put in at the conference level. That will mean it will be in the final bill."

While Senate Majority Leader Reid is on record supporting the public option his primary job is to get 60 votes to get the bill off the senate floor. So as Reid canvases the vote, Udall is among a small group, of eight senators who have been actively supporting the public option on the floor.

Udall said Reid credits the group with keeping the public option alive.

"He's going to work with us and he's going to do what he can to move us forward," Udall said.

Meanwhile, the state's junior U.S. Senator says he'd like to see some improvements in the final measure.

"We could add more people in," Udall said. "The prediction is that about ten years down the line with the senate bill we will still have 17 million people who will be uninsured. So we could do a better job at chipping away at that."

Udall also said he's looking for ways to make sure the health care needs of rural areas are protected in the final bill.

"We talk rural, but we really have a division there. There's rural and there's frontier. And the frontier areas as the designation is called really don't have any health care at all. We need more primary care physicians. We need them to be in rural areas,' Udall said. "We need to supplement, and put the resources behind those loan repayment programs, so that we can get doctors and other health care personnel out in rural areas."

On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) says nobody should expect a health care reform bill to pass the Senate anytime soon. McConnell insists whatever bill emerge onto the floor will be debated "extensively and at length."'

The Health insurance industry remains opposed to the public option

Udall said a report released by the insurance industry indicating insurance costs would increase with a bill's passage is one-sided.

"It actually proves why we need reform," Udall said. "Healthcare costs are absolutely out of control. We're talking about costs going up way past inflation. In the past we've had this dramatic increase of I think about 130%. In the future we're looking at those same kinds of increases unless something is done and that's what the Senate Finance bill and the bill out of the Health Committee are trying to get a hold of."

Udall also pushing for reform to Indian health

On Thursday he joined 15 Senate colleagues and introduced major legislation to improve health care for 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives across the country – the Indian Health Care Improvement Reauthorization and Extension Act of 2009.

Udall said too many American Indians are still struggling to receive quality care.

"It will bring much needed reforms to the Indian health care system and will allow us to connect Indian health improvements to national reform," Udall said. "It will also reauthorize the Indian healthcare improvements act so Indian county can better predict a plan for its health care needs."

It includes a measure that Udall help develop to help address a growing crisis in Indian country: teen suicide.

"The rate of suicide among Native Americans and Alaskan Native populations is 70 percent higher than the general United State's population. New Mexico which has the 5th highest Native American population in the country, also has the seventh highest rate of suicide from youth from ages 10 to 24 years."

Originally posted on NMPolitics.Net

Udall Highlights Cost of Inaction on Health Care Reform

On Wednesday, as the Senate Finance Committee continued marking up Max Baucus' legislation to reform health insurance, U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-NM, joined eight fellow freshman senators on the floor of the U.S. Senate to highlight the high cost of inaction on health insurance reform.

“Health insurance reform is one of the defining challenges of our time. Every person in our country has a stake in what we do at this moment, in this place,” Udall said. “And while there are a lot of proposals out there, there is one thing we know for sure: Maintaining the status quo is not an option.”

Udall said a new report released last week that found family health insurance premiums have already increased by about 5 percent in 2009, and over the past decade have gone up 131 percent.

Udall said he believes failure to act on health insurance reform would mean:

• The number of uninsured Americans would increase from more than 46 million in 2008 to more than 53 million in 2019.
• U.S. spending on health care would climb from almost $2.4 trillion in 2008 to almost $4.3 trillion in 2017.
• Insurance companies would continue to profit at the expense of America’s health and America’s pocketbooks.

“If we do nothing, if we maintain status quo, more Americans will be uninsured or under-insured. More Americans will become sick. More will die because of lack of care. And more families will experience financial ruin,” Udall said.

In New Mexico, nearly one-in-four residents lack health insurance, making it the second-highest uninsured state in the nation. During the last two years, 709,000 New Mexicans under age 65 went without health insurance for some time – which is 41.4 percent of the under 65 population.

The other freshman senators participating in the floor remarks on health care reform were: Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Mark Begich (D-AK), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Mark Udall (D-CO), Roland Burris (D-IL), and Kay Hagan (D-NC).

Heinrich Plans Health Care Roundtable with Plant Employees Facing Layoffs Next Year.

U.S. Representative Martin Heinrich, who has been on a listening tour in his district during the summer recess, will meet with employees from General Electrics' Albuquerque plant this afternoon during a 90-minute roundtable discussion that is closed to the general public.

The 400 workers fear they'll be losing their health care insurance coverage when the plant shuts down next year.

Rep. Heinrich, who hosted a town hall meeting late last month in Albuquerque, has spent the last several months gathering information and listening to the stories of countless health care providers and his constituents about the urgency of health care reform and the positive impact it would have on New Mexicans.

Heinrich said, "New Mexicans who have lost their jobs, or face losing their jobs, to hear firsthand what working families need to stay covered and stay healthy during difficult economic times."

In the wake of announcements of proposed layoffs, employees of General Electric (GE) will be at the table to discuss their concerns directly with Rep. Heinrich.

Radio Ad Encourages Senator Bingaman to Stick with Public Option Support

On Monday, ahead of the New Mexico First Healthcare Town Hall forum at the Albuquerque Convention Center, which features Senator Jeff Bingaman, the Center for Civic Policy released a radio ad that highlights Bingaman’s critical role in the ongoing debate about healthcare reform.

The group said their buying the ad time because of Bingaman's influential role on the “gang of six” which is working on a bipartisan proposal in the Senate Finance Committee.

Editor's Note: The release does not say how much money is being budgeted for the buy, nor does the release indicate what stations or markets the ad is being aired in.

From a News Release:

A strong public option would provide a competitive alternative to private insurance, giving New Mexicans a choice in their health care coverage. Currently, insurance companies are negotiating for a provision that would replace the public option with a cooperative proposal. However, co-ops would not have the power to negotiate lower prices for consumers, and therefore would not be able to compete with their larger, private insurance counterparts.

“We appreciate Senator Bingaman’s support for the public option. We want to make sure he continues to negotiate on behalf of New Mexicans who are sick and tired of rising health insurance premiums,” said Matt Brix, Policy Director at the Center for Civic Policy.

Brix added, “Over the last decade, premiums have increased by over 100%. Now is not the time to cave in to the demands of health insurance industry.”

Rep. Ben Ray Luján Jr. Hosts Health Care Reform Tour in Santa Fe Tomorrow.

Rep. Luján will be highlighting the need for health care reform and quality affordable health care for all Americans. We'll be watching what he says during his reform tour tomorrow.

News Release:

Santa Fe, NM - Tomorrow, Rep. Ben Ray Luján will hold a tour of community health service providers to highlight the need for health care reform that provides quality, affordable health care for all Americans. He will visit Open Hands, a health center dedicated to providing health services as well as loans for medical equipment for disabled and elderly individuals in low income homes. Following his visit to Open Hands, Rep. Luján will tour the Santa Fe Community Guidance Center, which provides primary care and behavioral health services.

"We must make sure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care," said Rep. Luján. "The cost of health care is spiraling out of control and even families with insurance are only a job loss or an injury away from losing their coverage. We need health care reform that changes the status quo and provides affordable, quality health care for all Americans."


If you go:

10:00 am Open Hands, 2976 Rodeo Park Dr E, Santa Fe, NM
11:00 am: Santa Fe Community Guidance Center, 820 Paseo De Peralta, Santa Fe, NM

Photo credit: MG Bralley