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Bush
Administration rejects recommendations on health
care from Citizens' Working Group
 Mar
15, 2007--The Bush administration on Wednesday
rejected recommendations for revisions to the
U.S. health care system made by the
Citizens' Health Care Working Group in a
September 2006 report,
CongressDaily
reports (CongressDaily,
3/15).
The group,
established under the 2003 Medicare law, sought to promote "a
nationwide public debate" on efforts to provide "every American with
the ability to obtain quality, affordable health coverage" and
develop "an action plan for Congress and the president to consider
as they work to make health care that works for all Americans."
The group --
whose members include hospital administrators, physicians, nurses, a
union president and a corporate benefits manager -- issued
recommendations in a report to the Bush administration and Congress
on Sept. 29, 2006, based on a series of public meetings held
nationwide and research on health care issues conducted for almost
one year.
The
report recommended that all U.S. residents have
access to affordable, core health benefits by 2012
and that all residents participate in a revised
health care system (Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report, 3/9).
In addition, the
report recommended the establishment of an independent, nonpartisan
committee that would develop the list of core health care benefits.
The report also recommended protection of consumers from high health
care costs. The report did not include a proposal to fund the
recommendations.
Administration
Response
HHS
Secretary Mike Leavitt in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
said that the president agrees with many of the goals of the group
but supports "an approach emphasizing consumer choice and options"
rather than an approach "based on mandates and government
intervention."
Leavitt added,
"A nationally determined set of core health benefits would place
important decision making about a person's health care in the
control of federal appointees, rather than allowing the consumer to
choose the benefits that best meet their needs." Sen. Ron Wyden
(D-Ore.), who wrote the group charter with Sen. Orrin Hatch
(R-Utah), expressed disappointment with the response of the
administration (Freking,
AP/Long Island
Newsday,
3/15). |
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