In Case You Missed It: The Washington Post's Ruth Marcus: A Bipartisan Plan on Health Care? Try Two

July 29, 2009

Says BPC's health care proposal "would expand coverage and control costs"

WASHINGTON, July 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In today's Washington Post, columnist Ruth Marcus praised the Bipartisan Policy Center's (BPC) plan for reforming health care, entitled: "Crossing Our Lines: Working Together to Reform the U.S. Health System," as a bipartisan health care proposal "that would expand coverage and control costs." According to Marcus, the recently released report, which was developed by former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole, members of the BPC's Advisory Board and Leaders' Project on the State of American Health Care, represents a "politically sustainable, deficit-neutral alternative" that deserves consideration from Congress and the White House as they continue the landmark debate on reforming the U.S. health care system.

Quotes from today's Washington Post editorial:

"If Wyden-Bennett is the equivalent of a tear-down of the health-care system, the Bipartisan Policy Center proposal is more of an extensive renovation."

"It's time to take another look. To switch from a real estate metaphor to a romantic one, the Bipartisan Policy Center proposal is like the nice guy you weren't thrilled about dating. He started to look a lot better after you tried some of the alternatives."

"The group finessed one hot-button issue, whether there should be a public plan to compete with private insurers, by giving states the option of establishing their own public plans and providing for the option of a federal plan if state-level efforts don't work."

"Tom Daschle showed that the front door is open. Bob Dole and Howard Baker showed that they could walk through it. Won't President Obama take another look -- and join them?"

Read the full editorial here.

The Leaders' Project report, released in June, was authored by Senators Baker, Daschle and Dole, and was co-chaired by Chris Jennings, a veteran of the Clinton White House, and Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of Medicare and Medicaid Services under President George W. Bush. It offers politically-viable policy recommendations to address the delivery, cost, coverage and financing challenges facing the nation's health care system. For more information or to download a full copy of the report, please visit: www.bpcleadersproject.org

About the Bipartisan Policy Center:

In 2007, former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle, Bob Dole, and George Mitchell formed the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) to develop and promote solutions that can attract the public support and political momentum to achieve real progress. The BPC acts as an incubator for policy efforts that engage top political figures, advocates, academics, and business leaders in the art of principled compromise. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.bipartisanpolicy.org/

SOURCE Bipartisan Policy Center