Warner urges action on health care

Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., in a speech on the Senate floor, yesterday warned of the consequences of inaction on a health-care overhaul.

"Doing nothing means exploding our federal deficit," Warner said. "Doing nothing means doubling the health-care premium cost for American families.

"Doing nothing means that American companies will be less competitive in a global market and [that] our small businesses will continue to be challenged to meet their basic needs."

Warner spoke as Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., opened a second day of debate on his health-care overhaul bill that is projected to cost nearly $900 billion over 10 years.

Warner led a procession of 10 first-term Democratic senators who delivered short speeches emphasizing cost containment, a message they had conveyed in a July letter to Baucus.

Warner said in his speech that the rising cost of health care is stressing family budgets and hobbling businesses that must compete in a world economy as the recession recedes.

"Clearly this situation is not sustainable. In my home state of Virginia, since 2000, insurance premiums have increased nearly 90 percent while wages have only increased 27 percent," he said.

"If we do nothing . . . insurance premiums are projected to double by 2016," Warner said, citing a report released this month by The Business Roundtable, a Washington-based organization of chief executive officers.

Warner said although many have raised "important and valid questions" about some health-care proposals that are before Congress, doing nothing would be a fateful policy choice.

"It is a misguided choice, it is an irresponsible choice, but it is a choice, nonetheless," he said.

Pointing to a chart titled "Bankrupting America," Warner said Americans spent more than $2.4 trillion on health care last year. The figure comes from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.

He said America's per-capita spending on health care is double that of most other developed nations and that the increasing costs of Medicare and Medicaid are having dire effects on the national debt.

Warner was one of 17 centrist Democrats whom President Barack Obama summoned to the White House on Sept. 10 to lobby for his health-care overhaul.

In a phone news conference yesterday afternoon, Warner said Democrats should work with Republicans to find common ground on the issue.

"Unless we drive down the cost of health care, the system is going to bankrupt all of us," he said.

Contact Andrew Cain at (804) 649-6645 or .