Ron Wyden: “today I join with Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the most caring and thoughtful public officials I have ever known, in…”

“today I join with Senator Orrin Hatch, one of the most caring and thoughtful public officials I have ever known, in offering a bipartisan roadmap to creating a health care system that works for all Americans. Our country has been trying to find such a path since President Harry Truman's proposal to cover all Americans was voted down in 1945. I believe the Wyden-Hatch proposal can succeed after 57 years of failure because our bipartisan plan begins with the public discussing and deciding their health care priorities, followed by a guarantee Congress will actually vote on the recommendations that result from this grassroots debate. This approach has never been tried before. Now, when major health laws are written, politicians sit down and prescribe what benefits will be offered, and then try to come up with the money to pay for them. After the politicians write their plans, the special interest lobbies start attacking one feature or another through shrill television commercials. Pretty soon, the public gets understandably confused, the chance for building consensus is lost, and important health care needs go unmet. The 280 million Americans whose survival depends on quality, affordable health care have never been given the chance to shape their health care future before the special interest lobbyists weigh in. The Wyden-Hatch bill changes that.”