The New Health Dialogue

Forty-seven health policy experts sent a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, as well as other House leaders, stressing the importance of passing comprehensive health care reform, reports The New York Times. The signatories include both liberals and moderates, and many respected health economists, all encouraging House leaders to pass the Senate bill and save health reform. The NY Times reports,

The letter notes that the two bills have many elements in common, including provisions mandating that everyone have insurance, prohibiting insurance denials because of health status, creating insurance exchanges and offering subsidies to help people buy insurance.

While acknowledging that the Senate bill is imperfect, the letter argues that differences between the House and Senate versions, such as the tax on so-called Cadillac insurance plans and premium subsidy allocations, can be adjusted through the budget reconciliation process.

Alternatively, the signers maintain, “Congress can abandon this effort at this critical moment, leaving millions more Americans to become uninsured in the coming years as health care becomes ever less affordable.”

We couldn’t agree more -- we’ve come so far in the debate, and the cost of failure on health reform is simply too high. The full text of the letter is available here.