It’s Time to Set Aside Party Politics and Find Common Ground
Washington, D.C.– The following is a statement from the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Expert Panel on the Future of Health Care:
“As members of Congress return home to celebrate the Fourth of July and meet with constituents in their states and districts, the fate of the Senate’s health care bill hangs in the balance. Over the next 10 days, there will be time for members from both parties to carefully review the legislation, listen to their constituents, and civilly discuss needed reforms to our nation’s health care system.
“Health care consumes nearly one-fifth of our economy. It’s complex and unfortunately, divides our country. It is also personal, directly affecting the lives of all individuals and families, while being delivered at the very local level in doctor’s offices, hospitals, nursing homes, and even in the home.
“Republicans and Democrats maintain significant, principled and substantive differences over the goals and structure of America’s future health care system. But we also believe, within these differences are some fundamental truths: we all want to lower the cost of health care coverage, reduce the burden on families, and be assured that the quality of care provided is the best it can be.
We all want to lower the cost of health care coverage, reduce the burden on families, and be assured that the quality of care provided is the best it can be.
“The time to set aside party politics and find common ground on these challenging issues is before Congress upon their return from the Independence Day recess. A failure to resolve policy differences will only lead to further instability in the health care system and neither benefit the American public nor our democratic process.”
This statement is from the BPC’s Expert Panel on the Future of Health Care: Former Senate Majority Leaders Bill Frist, M.D. and Tom Daschle; former Acting Administrator CMS Andy Slavitt; former HCFA Administrator Gail Wilensky; BPC senior advisor and president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity Avik Roy; former director, Center for Medicaid Cindy Mann; resident fellow, Milton Friedman chair, AEI, James Capretta; senior fellow, Center for Health Policy, Brookings Institution Alice Rivlin; BPC fellow and strategic advisor, Baker Donelson Sheila Burke; and BPC fellow and president of Jennings Policy Strategies, Chris Jennings.