CONGRESS EDGED closer to a deal on reforming the American healthcare system yesterday as President Barack Obama stepped up his call for an overhaul of the system at town hall meetings in North Carolina and Virginia.
Two key congressional committees said they were moving towards agreement on health reform Bills that would ban insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions or cutting off insurance to those who become ill.
Four out of seven conservative Democrats on the house energy and commerce committee said they have worked out their differences with committee chairman Henry Waxman over a draft reform Bill.
In the Senate, finance committee chairman Max Baucus said he was negotiating a deal with three moderate Republicans that would cut the cost of reform.
In a question and answer session before 2,000 people in Raleigh, North Carolina, Mr Obama said his reform plan would benefit consumers, regardless of whether or not they are currently insured.
“We have a system today that works well for the insurance industry, but it doesn’t always work well for you,” he said.
“What we need, and what we will have when we pass these reforms, are health insurance consumer protections to make sure that those who have insurance are treated fairly and insurance companies are held accountable.”
The president criticised conservatives for suggesting that his plan would put the federal government in charge of healthcare, promising that Americans who are happy with their current health coverage could keep it unchanged.
“Nobody is talking about some government takeover of healthcare,” he said.
“I’ve been as clear as I can be, under the reform I’ve proposed, if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep your healthcare plan. These folks need to stop scaring everybody.”
Despite the progress reported on Capitol Hill, Congress will not vote on any new plan until September or October.
In the meantime, Republicans have promised to use the August recess to target Democrats who support healthcare reform.
“We are going to hold them accountable for every vote they took in those committees that empowered Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama’s plan for a government takeover of the healthcare system,” said Pete Sessions, chairman of the National Republican Campaign Committee.
Many of the fiscally conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats who have expressed reservations about healthcare reform represent districts that Mr Obama failed to win in last November’s election.
Most Americans support the central elements of Mr Obama’s reform plan, including the promise to insure the 47 million people currently without coverage and a proposal to set up a public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, according to a Time poll published yesterday.
Significant majorities believe, however, that legislation is likely to increase healthcare costs in the long term, make healthcare more complicated and offer less freedom to choose doctors and coverage.