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Healthy Discussion
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NOT A PRETTY PROCESS: U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, talks about Congress passing health-care system changes comparing it to “making sausage.” Ryan spoke at an event cosponsored by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and NEO HealthForce.
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HEALTH CARE CHANGES: U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson said the specific details of a federal health care bill are “changing daily.” Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th, spoke at an invitation-only event Monday on health care.
Ryan, Wilson share views on federal health-care bill at HealthForce forum
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
BOARDMAN — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan expects the federal government to overhaul the health-care system, but said doing it isn’t easy.
“We’re making sausage; it’s not a pretty process,” said Ryan of Niles, D-17th, at an invitation- only discussion Monday on federal health-care legislation.
The event was co-sponsored by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and NEO HealthForce, a Northeast Ohio organization that touts itself as helping “create collaborative and innovative solutions to health-care workforce challenges.”
About 30 people — either HealthForce or chamber government affairs council members — attended the event at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman.
There is still a lot of discussion and negotiating among members of Congress on the health-care bill before it can be considered for passage, Ryan said.
As for specific details of the bill, they’re “changing daily,” said U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th, who participated in the event.
Both Ryan and Wilson, along with Beth Thames, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Ohio deputy director, said they want a “public option,” a government-run insurance plan.
But they all agreed that a public option isn’t guaranteed to be part of a health- ∫ ∫care bill.
While there are a number of health-care proposals being considered by Congress, anything approved will include legislation that requires insurance companies to accept customers with pre-existing conditions and a limit on the amount of money a person can pay out-of-pocket for health care, Ryan and Wilson said.
Bob Shroder, Humility of Mary Health Partners’ chief executive officer, said at Tuesday’s event that “health-care reform is really, really needed. It’s a broken system that needs to be fixed.”
One issue raised by Shroder is that Medicare covers only 70 percent of the cost of an actual hospital bill. That means those with private health insurance typically pay 130 percent of the cost of a customer’s medical bill, he said.
“The more government cuts its payments, the more private insurers pay,” Shroder said.
skolnick@vindy.com