During a breakout session of today's White House health-care summit, Rep. Eric I. Cantor, R-7th, said he wanted to inject "a dose of reality'' into the debate by talking about cost.
"A dose of reality is: what can we afford, especially given the economic times that were in?'' he said.
Cantor participated in one of five sessions at the summit, meant to bring together government officials, members of Congress, and "stakeholders," from business to the medical field.
Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget; and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, a retired Army general; moderated the session in which Cantor took part.
Cantor said the starting premise should be that parts of our health system do work -- after all, people come from around the world seeking care in the United States.
He added that he agrees with "the business-like approach," seeing what "we can afford, and let's try and work from that point forward.''
In a statement issued by his office, Cantor said: "Republicans want to work with the president to modernize America's health-care system and reduce waste while ensuring that patients have access to high-quality, affordable care.
"However, the devil is always in the details and we hope that the path to achieving this goal does not start and end in the basement of Health and Human Services or some new government agency."
Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or nsimon@mediageneral.com.
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