Sen. Collins speaks out
Posted: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:59 AM by firstread
Filed Under:
Congress
From NBC's Kelly Paice
As the Senate continues its debate on health care reform, Senator
Susan Collins (R-ME) released a statement today saying that she supports the efforts of Senator
Olympia Snowe (R-ME) to pass the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill yesterday; however, she expressed concern over the bill in general.
Sen. Collins said that the Senate Finance Committee's bill "represents a substantial improvement over the costly and flawed alternative approved by the Senate Health Committee as well as the House bills." However, she continued, "Nevertheless, the Senate Finance Committee's bill falls short of the goal of providing access to more affordable health care for all Americans. The goal of health care reform must be to rein in costs and provide consumers with more affordable choices. Yet, many individuals and families would be forced to pay more for their health care under the Finance Committee bill, and they would have fewer choices."
The senator also expressed her concern that the Finance Committee's bill could hurt small businesses and could discourage them from adding more jobs. Also, Sen. Collins said she is concerned about how the legislation would affect Medicare: "I am troubled that the legislation would cut nearly $500 billion from Medicare, which provides care for our oldest Americans and our most vulnerable citizens. ... It should not be the piggy bank for new spending programs when revenues are needed to shore up the current program."
Senator Collins expressed her disappointment that the Finance Committee did not do more to contain costs, which she suggests "should have been one of the most important goals of this bill." The senator remains "hopeful" for a health care reform bill to be passed that "protects affordable health care choices, safeguards Medicare, and reduces costs to the consumer and the taxpayer especially at a time when we simply cannot afford to pay more."
