Health Care Markup, Day 1: Republicans Sharpen Focus on Kennedy Bill Costing Too Much, Covering Too Few

Washington, D.C. – In the first day of the Senate Health, Education, Labor andPensions (HELP) Committee’s consideration of the Kennedy health care bill, U.S.Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the HELP Committee, ledRepublicans in focusing on the Kennedy bill’s high costs and failure to cover tens ofmillions of Americans.

“This bill costs too much, covers too few and will cause 10 million Americans tolose the health insurance they currently enjoy,” said Enzi, the Senate’s only accountant.“President Obama promised that under his health reform proposal, every American whohad coverage that they liked could keep it. This bill fails to deliver on that promise.

Republicans also focused on the HELP Committee process of beginning themarkup today, even though key sections of the bill remain blank, the CongressionalBudget Office (CBO) has not been able to provide formal cost estimates of the entireproposal since it remains incomplete, and the Department of Health and HumanServices (HHS) has failed to provide official, technical assistance.

“The fundamental flaws in this bill are the direct consequence of how the bill wasput together. The bill was drafted exclusively by Democratic staff, who excludedRepublicans from the process of preparing the actual legislation,” Enzi said. “That is nothow Senator Kennedy and I worked together in the past, and this is not how wemanaged to produce an impressive record of bipartisan accomplishments at thiscommittee."

Committee members completed opening statements today, and the committeewill proceed to the consideration of amendments on the quality and preventionprovisions of the bill next. Republicans will likely offer amendments that would focus onreining in exploding health care costs by reducing the number of medical lawsuits andcurbing waste, fraud and abuse.

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