Wyoming Democratic Party Joins President Obama In His Call for Congress to Finish the Job and Pass Health Insurance Reform

Wyoming Democratic Party Joins President Obama In His Call For Congress To Finish The Job And Pass Health Insurance Reform

After A Long And Rigorous Debate, This is the Final March for Reform, Says State Chair Leslie Petersen

Cheyenne, WY – Wyoming Democratic Party Chair Leslie Petersen issued the following statement after President Obama today called on Congress to finish the job and take a final up-or-down vote on health insurance reform legislation: 

“After a long and rigorous debate, it’s time for Congress to act and provide their constituents a final up or down vote on reform. Patients who are being denied care when they need it most, small businesses that are struggling to provide insurance for their employees, and state budgets that are being crushed by the cost of treating the uninsured can no longer wait for reform. President Obama and Congressional Democrats have had an open dialogue with Republicans, and President Obama has announced his support for additional Republican ideas that may be included in the final bill. Now it’s time for Congress to act, and act soon.  We are on our final march for reform—Wyoming residents can no longer wait while Republicans play political games on the issue.  It’s time for Congress to finish the job and take simple up or down votes on this critical legislation.”

Democrats and Republicans have extensively discussed how to repair our broken health care system, and it’s clear that everyone agrees the status quo isn’t working.  Insurance companies are denying coverage to people when they need it most and rising costs are crushing families and businesses as well as state and federal budgets.  And if we don’t act now, things will only get worse – it will send more families into bankruptcy, prevent businesses from being able to hire workers and drive up the deficit.

President Obama and Congressional Democrats believe we need to put more control in the hands of consumers.  The heath care legislation, which has already passed initial votes in both the House and the Senate, does just that with three critical reforms:

1.       It ends the worst practices of insurance companies – they will no longer be able to deny coverage because of a pre-existing conditions, drop coverage when you get sick, charge unlimited amounts for out of pocket expenses, or arbitrarily raise premiums; 

2.       It gives all Americans the same options that Members of Congress have by creating a new health insurance marketplace, including tax credits based on income for those who still can’t afford insurance in this new system;

3.       It brings down the cost of health care for families, businesses, and the government by reducing fraud, waste and abuse.

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