Authors of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Health Care Report Urge Joint Leadership on Health Reform

Oct. 7, 2009

Washington, D.C. – The following is a statement released by Bipartisan Policy Center Founders and Advisory Board Members former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Bob Dole:

“After 14 months of work, on June 17, 2009, we announced recommendations for health care reform. It was the culmination of months of work as advisors to the Bipartisan Policy Center. It was then and is now our hope that a consensus be reached which supports sweeping changes in health care.

“As former Senate leaders, we each worked for years to reform the health care system and watched with frustration as efforts failed time and time again. The Congressional and Executive Branches must accept responsibility for not getting the job done in the past. Today it is different and Congress could be close to passing comprehensive health reform. The American people have waited decades and if this moment passes us by, it may be decades more before there is another opportunity. The current approaches suggested by the Congress are far from perfect, but they do provide some basis on which Congress can move forward and we urge the joint leadership to get together for America’s sake. We have no vote or power but we have experience and our only objective is to be helpful.”

###

To read the Bipartisan Policy Center’s comprehensive health care report titled, “Crossing our Lines: Working Together to Reform the U.S. Health System,” please visit www.bipartisanpolicy.org.

---

Leaders' Project on the State of American Health Care