Roll Call Opinion Pieces Address Health Care Reform, Other Issues Obama Administration, Congress Should Address in 2009

• Former Sens. Howard Baker (R-Tenn.)/George Mitchell (D-Maine): U.S. residents next year seek action from the federal government on health care and other issues, not "bickering and backstabbing," Baker and Mitchell, co-founders of the Bipartisan Policy Center write. They write that the center has begun several policy products, one of which focuses on health care, and plans to release recommendations in January 2009 to address the "Four Pillars of Health Care Reform." According to Baker and Mitchell, the pillars include the need to protect and improve the quality and value of health care; affordable health insurance choices in an improved market; ensure and promote a strong individual role in coverage and costs; and secure a mechanism to finance the system (Baker/Mitchell, Roll Call, 11/20).
  
  
• Former Rep. Tom Delay (R-Texas): "Surely Obama would love to be the president who finally delivers" health insurance to all U.S. residents funded by the federal government as part of his agenda for next year, but whether U.S. residents would "really stomach the tax hikes necessary to afford such a move" remains questionable, Delay, who served as House majority leader from 2003 to 2005, writes. Delay cites the need to address economic issues before health care and other concerns. He adds that, "if socialized health care, tax hikes or taxpayer-funded partial-birth abortions arrive before the economy does get better, well, honeymoon over" (DeLay, Roll Call, 11/20).
  
  
• Former Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.): Comprehensive "health care reform is likely to be shoved to the back burner" next year, Frist writes, adding, "Don't let it." He says conventional "reasoning is that no money exists" for such a proposal, but "that fact actually opens the door, doesn't close it, to the type of structural reform that is so badly needed, Frist, a practicing heart and lung transplant surgeon, writes. In an effort to "effectively and quickly get the ball rolling, Frist recommends expanded use of health care information technology, the elimination of the variation of spending for medical services in different regions, increased enrollment of those uninsured already eligible for Medicaid and SCHIP, capping the tax preference for employer-sponsored insurance that promotes overuse of health care services, the passage of health care reform legislation, the early appointment of a new surgeon general and an increase in funds for medical research (Frist, Roll Call, 11/20).
  
  
• Ret. Gen. Colin Powell: Eight million U.S. children today lack health insurance, and 13 million live in poverty, Powell, a former Secretary of State and a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, writes. According to Powell, Congress next year must "put our children first" and seek to ensure that "all children have quality health care," among other proposals (Powell, Roll Call, 11/20).