(Host) Congressman Peter Welch says the big health care plan drafted by House Democrats doesn’t do enough to control costs.
Welch says he hopes to work with both Democrats and Republicans to make certain that the bill reforms the way health care is paid for.
VPR’s Bob Kinzel reports.
(Kinzel) When the House was considering its climate change bill, Rep. Welch held a series of lasagna dinners to give some of his more conservative colleagues an informal opportunity to air their concerns about the legislation. Now he hopes to play a similar role during the health care debate.
House Democratic leaders have just unveiled their legislation. It’s a bill that includes subsidies to help low- and middle-income people purchase coverage either through a new public plan or a private insurance policy.
It’s financed, in part, by imposing an income tax surcharge for individuals who make more than $280,000 a year.
The legislation also assesses a penalty on businesses that don’t provide coverage to their employees. Smaller businesses are exempted from the penalty.
Welch says he supports the general approach of the bill. But he thinks it needs stronger cost containment measures.
(Welch) "Those provisions are finding their way into this bill, but not enough. And I’m determined that, if we’re going to use that opportunity to try to bend that cost curve – because if you have a health care system that’s rising in expense at two to three times the rate of inflation, or wages or profits – you’re not going to have a sustainable system."
(Kinzel) Welch wants to work with his colleagues to add a payment reform amendment to the legislation. The proposal would effectively replace the current fee for service system with an outcome based model because Welch says the current system encourages wasteful spending.
(Welch) "Our goal will be to coordinate our efforts to strengthen the system, reform components of this bill. That’s the big challenge. There’s going to be a lot of debate about how do you pay for this. My view is that the first place that we pay for it is by squeezing the waste out of the system and by reforming how we do the system."
(Kinzel) And Welch says the cost containment issue is an area where Democrats and Republicans can work together.
(Welch) "And, frankly, that’s where there could be some common ground. … So I’m going to encourage my colleagues on the Republican side on the Energy committee: ‘Give us your ideas, even if you’ve decided for whatever reason you’re going to vote against the health care bill. If you have good ideas to make this a better bill, that’s going to save Americans money, give them better quality, let’s hear your ideas. Because we want to put them in the bill.’"
(Kinzel) Democratic leaders say they hope to bring the bill to the floor for a vote before the August recess.
For VPR News, I’m Bob Kinzel in Montpelier