Politics

Healthcare Reform: The Game Plan

The House Members return today for legislative session. Democrat leadership has announced that they plan to bypass a bicameral conference committee to merge both the House and Senate health care bills, and have opted to instead ?ping-pong? the Senate bill. Under this strategy, the House will take up the Senate bill and amend it, then send it back to the Senate for final approval. Republicans, including Congressman Conaway, are outraged that the Democrat leadership has chosen to exclude Republican Members in the negotiations and conduct such talks behind closed door. This is a disservice to the American people and certainly conflicts with President Obama and Democrat promises for fairness and transparency.

Major issues must still be resolved between the House and Senate, including: 1) Illegal immigrants? ability to purchase coverage in the exchange; 2) Federal funding of abortion; 3) The government-run option vs. the federally overseen ?Multi-State Plan?/ exchange; 4) Financing the expansion of coverage through a surtax on the ?wealthy? and small businesses vs. a union opposed tax on ?Cadillac plans? and the Medicare payroll increase for the ?wealthy?; and 5) Independent Medicare Advisory Board (IMAB), also known as ?MedPAC on Steroids?.

Congressman Conaway stands with the American people in fighting against a government takeover of health care and for reforms that will cut down on the cost of care, allow for individual choice, and maintain quality of care. Sarah Beatty- Senior Legislative Assistant on Healthcare

Full post as published by Mike Conaway's Blog on January 12, 2010 (boomark / email).