POLITICS: Healthy Americans Act Reintroduced in the House

Despite the upcoming August recess and the looming presidential election, there is bipartisan news out of the House of Representatives today (where rumor has it all 435 Members are in an election year), following the reintroduction of the Healthy Americans Act with 19 cosponsors, 17 Democrats and 2 Republicans. (The bill was introduced originally about a year ago, also on a bipartisan basis). The new House version includes the amendment to the Senate bill, which allows employers to continue offering coverage to their employees. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, and Jo Ann Emerson, a Missouri Repubilcan, are lead sponsors.

But the good will is not coming from the House alone. In the past two weeks, Senators Wyden and Bennett have added two new cosponsors to the Senate version of the legislation, Senators Gordon Smith and Maria Cantwell. Both Smith, an Oregon Republican, and Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, are members of the powerful Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over many of the levers needed to reform and fund our health system.

We know there is a long way to go, but bipartisanship is key to reforming our health system. Stay tuned...