Wyden: Stimulus Will Include Health IT, Insurance Aid For Unemployed
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) knows how to build health care coalitions. From his seat on the Senate Finance Committee, he has watched the major health debates of the past decade -- from the 1994 Clinton flame-out onwards -- play out from the front row. His Healthy Americans Act helped lay the groundwork for Barack Obama's post-partisan movement on health reform by getting conservatives, progressives, and corporate interests together on a proposal to break the mold of traditional insurance. So he's got a pretty authoritative take on the health care proposals that are headed for inclusion in the stimulus bill.
"If there can be two good wins on health care early," he told me during a sit-down interview in his office today, "on SCHIP and COBRA for the uninsured, it's a bit of a down payment in terms of broader reform. It can build on that -- on Democrats and Republicans finding common ground."
Wyden added that reforming health information technology, allowing all Americans to have an electronic medical record within five years, is also on track to be part of the stimulus, for one simple reason: "It's a job creator."
SCHIP, the children's health insurance program administered by the states with federal help, is moving forward separately from the stimulus, headed for a quick reauthorization (and expansion) on the House floor and in Senate Finance this month, ahead of the March 31 deadline for renewal.
Adding COBRA aid to the stimulus bill, however, thus helping laid-off workers afford to keep their health care, would be a key victory for Wyden. The idea has met with positive signals from Republicans, making COBRA aid a helpful first step towards amassing broad support for major health care reform later in the year.
"Now, that's not comprehensive reform," he conceded. But Wyden pointed to the benefit of starting small will convince ordinary voters as well as business interests that a broad health care bill is coming. Under Bill Clinton, he pointed out, a broad reform bill was not delivered to Congress until more than a year after Election Day. This time, under Wyden's "down payment" theory, the stimulus can help the forthcoming health bill gain momentum.
I could be reading this wrong, but if Obama can get the Health IT into the stimulus bill, it would be one less thing he'd have to include in his eventual health care reform price tag.
I still question how it's going to be secured.
January 12, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The electronic health record is fine, but don't lose sight of the goal -- universal health CARE. Your health record isn't going to be available electronically if you don't have access to health care in the first place.
January 12, 2009 4:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
JOBS-
Rebuilding our roads, BRIDGES, and schools.
Jobs helping conserve and rebuild our national parks and bike trails.
Retrofitting plants to become more green.
Building wind farms and placing solar panels.
Retrofitting the auto industry to produce wind turbines and other green tech.
In government sponsored day care centers and as nannies for those who so choose (see Denmark).
Teaching Pre-K, perhaps incorporated into the above.
Going overseas as aid workers, particularily focusing on Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Restructuring our medical systems and records.
Redesigning and rebuilding our electrical grid.
Allowing all access to broadband internet.
Training workers for new fields of work.
And how about a payroll tax holiday for those that make under $60,000? Also, emphasis on food stamps, unemployment insurance extenstion, aid to states. Big bang for your buck along with the above mentioned infrastructure, those are the top five best investments/stimulus we can make right now.
Finally, a bank holiday to figure out who's solvent and who isn't.
January 12, 2009 4:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
Electronic health record is more than just fine; it is a major initiative that will help reduce the cost of healthcare across the board. If single payer goes through with EHR already well underway, single payer has a much better chance of being successful. Either way, more people will have access if the costs are lower.
It isn't either EHR or universal health care; it's both/and.
January 12, 2009 4:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wyden's health plan involves de-linking employment and health care and making it universal. That has appeal for the business community and some Rs. That's why he's been able to bring many Rs on board.
January 12, 2009 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
The expense of private insurance restricts the ability of individuals to start their own business. I predict a small business resurgence if health care costs are taken out of the equation. This is rarely considered when the economic impact of universal health care is tallied up.
Every school district in the state of Oregon has to negotiate their own insurance policy, each district burning unnecessary staff hours that do nothing for education. Universal health care would allow schools to use these hours for teaching.
January 12, 2009 5:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ahhhhhh, not really. Wyden was in the Oregon Legislative Assembly in 1994, not the United States Senate. He wasn't even elected to the United States Senate until 1996 when he won in a special election in January of that year to fill the Senate seat vacated by disgraced former Senator Bob Packwood.
Don't get me wrong, Wyden is a great Senator and I'm grateful to have him as my state's Senior Senator and ecstatic that he has a progressive partner in our newly elected Jr. Senator Jeff Merkley, but it is misleading to make it sound like he was front and center for the healthcare debate in Congress as part of the Clinton healthcare reform under then first lady Hillary Clinton.
January 12, 2009 10:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
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January 26, 2009 6:25 AM | Reply | Permalink