Insiders' Insights: The Pace of Reform

Bolstered by a voter mandate and a Democratic majority in Congress, should President-elect Barack Obama push to make the passage of universal healthcare legislation an immediate priority when he takes office, or should Obama take a slower approach to healthcare reform by building a consensus with Republicans, health plans, and the pharmaceutical lobby?

U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-MI
Committee on Ways and Means, Subcommittee on Health (ranking member)
Any healthcare reform that will work, earn the support of the American public, and be affordable for both citizens and the federal government must have consensus. So if President-elect Obama is serious about lasting healthcare reform, I would urge him to build a consensus and not simply act with all due haste. That has been tried by previous presidents and failed miserably. In fact, the rush to action by the Clinton administration set back healthcare reform by a decade. We cannot afford to wait another decade to implement true healthcare reform.

U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-TN
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, House Judiciary Committee
This is one of the most essential needs of the American public. Obviously the No. 1 need is the economy. But part of the problem with the economy that has caused a strain on people is healthcare. This is what the Democrats ran on. This is why people voted for the Democrats. We need to move forward on this. You strike while the iron is hot and move quickly for a change that is fundamental and important to people's lives and that will move America into step with the rest of the industrialized world in having a system of healthcare for all of its people.

—John Commins