by RJ Matson
Tuesday with the Council on Foundations, Sebelius made her first public address since she was confirmed and quickly installed as the administration’s Secretary for Health and Human services last week. To highlight the urgency of the crisis, she states, “Approximately 30 cents of every health care dollar [is] spent on billing, overhead and administration. Spending on the uninsured and the health care bureaucracy takes up nearly one half of every health care dollar and results in a system where we all pay more and get worse results.” The new Secretary went even further to say, [T]he old opponents of reform have joined our effort to change the status quo. Groups and organizations that were once fierce enemies have come to the table and embraced the call for real health care reform.”
Indeed, there is great momentum (as so deftly illustrated by Matson above) for this issue right now and many conservative stakeholders are attempting to be proactive in their approach to stay ahead of that momentum. Yet, to say old opponents have joined the effort could be an overstatement. It leads me to say skeptically, “We shall see…” Tell me what you think? Will there be work and consensus building to get health reform out of committees by June? Will the democrats simply be forced to rely on their numbers as they did in passing the Recovery Act?
Source:
Healthcare Reform Is Top US Priority – Sebelius. Reuters Health Information via Medscape Today. Cited on May 6, 2009. Available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/702385.
