Snowe Meets with President to Discuss Overhaul of the American Health Care System

July 16, 2009 Washington, D.C. U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over health care, and part of a select working group of senior committee members meeting daily with Committee Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley to find common ground on health care reform, released the following statement today after being asked to the White House by President Obama for a meeting to discuss congressional efforts to provide high-quality, affordable health care coverage: "With one in four Americans suffering from a lack of affordable coverage, I told the President today that I am committed to the goal of providing universal, affordable health care this year, and I am convinced the President shares my goal. The impact of this bill – on both health and the economy – demands we get this right. So I also said that the process for reforming the system must match the enormity of the task at hand. We must calibrate the speed of our action on this monumental issue to the necessity to get this right. It took nearly a year and a half for the Johnson Administration to create Medicare to cover 20 million seniors – versus the nearly 70 million who today lack substantive coverage. "One of the areas on which we can find common ground and ensure affordable health care for all people is through my ‘safety net plan’ as a fall back option. This option would be available from day one in any state where – after market and insurance reforms are implemented – affordable, competitive plans still do not exist. And finally, I told the President that we appreciate and are anxious for his support as we tackle one of the most difficult aspects of any major legislation – finding the means to pay for it. Ultimately, the Finance Committee has the responsibility to pay for this proposal but we certainly welcome the President’s leadership in overcoming these obstacles."