For Immediate ReleaseContact: Amaya Tune/Eddie Vale: 202-637-5018
Statement by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumkaon New Senate Cost Containment PackageDecember 8, 2009
We commend the package of amendments freshman Senators have developed that wouldstrengthen the cost containment provisions of health reform legislation. These senatorshave their eyes on what’s most important to all Americans – affordable, high qualityhealth care that will be there when we need it. We must transform our current healthcare system into one that rewards value – constraining cost growth withoutcompromising care.Controlling health care costs is a critical building block for health reform. Without it,any expansion of coverage to the uninsured or even the continuation of existingcoverage, whether employment-sponsored insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, will beunsustainable.But reining in costs is the most difficult challenge we face in health care reform. That iswhy the AFL-CIO is so pleased that the approach taken in both the House and Senatehealth reform legislation expands on the wide consensus that has arisen among all partiesin health care that we can do much better in delivering high quality, high value care. Thisconsensus evolved from the Institute of Medicine’s groundbreaking reports on qualityand safety issues over the past 10 years.A number of the amendments announced today would, individually, represent significantsteps forward from the current draft Senate legislation. Taken together, however, theyamount to a robust expansion of critically important provisions in the legislation.But these measures alone will not fix a broken health care system. We need a strong public health insurance option to keep insurance companies honest and fair financing --with employers shouldering their responsibility and no new taxes on health benefits.We applaud the Senators for their leadership and commitment to tackling the tough issueof cost containment. We look forward to working, in the coming days, to build supportfor these proposals.