Schwartz at Health Care Debate

I listed to the webcast of the Congressional Health Care debate this afternoon in Cincinnati. It was on in the background while working and so I can only provide a general gist instead of rough notes or a transcript. A podcast may be available later.

Those participating included Pennsylvania's Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-13) and Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA), Rep. Marion Berry (D-AR), Rep. Charles Boustany, M.D. (R-LA), Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL), Rep. Nathan Deal (R-GA), and Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ).

Some of the points Schwartz made during the debate were:

1) a priority in making access to affordable health care available to all Americans. This includes looking at a variety of options, such as allowing small businesses to pool purchasing power.

2) As the mother of a young physician she understand the problems associated with the high cost of medical and health care education

3) Pres. Bush vetoed the expansion of the SCHIP program. While the GOP says it wants family based coverage, it won't let parents be included in the program.

4) The SCHIP expansion was designed not to produce any new costs.

5) We need integrated electronic medical records.

She spoke a number of times so there are no doubt things I missed or missed her emphasis of.

It was an interesting debate. The GOP seemed to favor preventive care and "putting families back in control" and various pooling mechanisms. One gentleman spoke of letting associations offer medical coverage to members. The idea of individual coverage is great but many people, myself included, would find the idea of sorting through plans and picking one overwhelming. I just look at the copay and whether or not our doctors are in the plan, but freely admit to being very ignorant of the topic generally.