Sen Herb Kohl-Response to Letter Requesting Public Option

Dear Mrs. Schaefer:

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding health reform. I appreciate your interest in this very important issue.

Congress has made great strides towards reforming America 's health care system. On November 7, 2009 the House passed the "Affordable Health Care for America Act," and on December 24, 2009 the Senate passed the "Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act." Both of these bills would expand coverage to the majority of Americans, curb the rising cost of health care, cut the deficit and improve the quality and efficiency of our health care system.

Debate on the Senate health reform bill has been passionate and at some points daunting; passage was the result of long negotiations and the culmination of more than a decade of work. This bill takes major steps in the process of cutting health care costs, while maintaining quality and expanding coverage. This bill will cover 94 percent of Americans under 65 and provide coverage for more than 31 million of the uninsured, cut the deficit by $132 billion in the first ten years and roughly $1.3 trillion over the second ten years.


I am pleased with the direction we are moving with this bill. Many of the important insurance reforms will begin as soon as the President signs the final health reform bill; insurers will be prohibited from putting a cap on lifetime benefits and will no longer be able to rescind coverage when you become sick, children will be allowed to stay on their parents plan until age 26, and small businesses will receive tax credits to make covering their employees more affordable. These are just a few of the provisions that will begin to immediately help improve our health system.

For Wisconsin , the bill will provide additional federal funds for BadgerCare, alleviating some of the burden on our state budget and preserving access to care that many in Wisconsin depend on. Additionally, the bill will provide free preventive services for over 870,000 seniors in Wisconsin and will extend the solvency of Medicare for an additional decade.

I was pleased that a number of my bills were included in the bill passed by the Senate. These include the Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement Act, the Patient Safety and Abuse Prevention Act, the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, Medicare Payment Improvement Act of 2009, as well as provisions from the Retooling the Health Care Workforce for an Aging America Act. My hope is that these are included in the final health reform bill passed by Congress.



Work remains to be done before we pass a final health reform bill. Now that both the House and Senate have passed their respective bills, we will be tasked with merging the two versions of health reform. There are a number of differences between the two bills, but I am confident we will soon send a bill to the President to sign. I look forward to improving upon the bill with my colleagues in Congress until final passage.



Again, thank you for your comments. I will be sure to keep your thoughts and concerns in mind as legislation progresses through Congress.