Graham speaks out against Senate healthcare plan

By Anna B. Mitchell  

JANUARY 19, 2010 4:17 p.m. (0)

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham came back to Greenville today and urged Democrats in Washington to “stop and start over” on healthcare reform.

The Senate plan under consideration would expand Medicaid benefits to millions of Americans by raising the income level to qualify while introducing cost savings that the bill’s advocates say would allow about $480 billion in cuts to Medicare.

Graham said he disagreed with the process of creating the bill – without Republican input – and its substance – a huge expansion in government’s role in healthcare.

“Only the most liberal people in the country support this plan,” said Graham, who told the Journal in an interview last week he believes the country is center right.

He made his remarks in the lobby of the Cancer Center of the Carolinas treatment facility off Orchard Park Road in Greenville about five hours before polls closed in Massachusetts.

Graham pointed to the close Senate race there to fill the seat of the late Ted Kennedy – an advocate for universal health care who urged Obama to pass a bill this year – as evidence the liberal agenda on healthcare is losing ground. The race is between Republican Scott Brown and Democrat Martha Coakley.

“The election in Massachusetts today looms large,” he said, calling Brown’s possible victory an “unbelievable sea change in a political tsunami.”

He added that should the Senate try to “jam through healthcare reform” before Brown is seated (assuming he wins), “holy hell will result.”

Graham has emerged as a centrist figure in Washington, D.C., despite his conservative record because Senate Democrats have been able to negotiate bipartisan legislation with the South Carolina Republican in recent months – most notably energy and environmental policy.

That would end, Graham said, if the Obama administration fails to work with the GOP on healthcare.

“It will be almost impossible to work together on other issues,” he said.

Graham has called the back-room deals and 11th hour negotiation to create the Senate healthcare plan palatable to blue-dog Democrats as “sleazy” and “Chicago-style” politics.

He has already criticized the Nebraska provision, which gave that state a pass on paying its share of Medicaid. Currently, all states must match federal Medicaid allocations.

Today he pointed out an additional provision, this one benefiting the state of Florida, which extends the popular Medicare Advantage program in that state for 10 years. Medicare Advantage allows 111,000 seniors in South Carolina – and millions more nationwide – to pay more to receive more benefits. Under the Senate plan, Graham said, that program would end in every state but Florida.

Dr. Mark O’Rourke, a hematology oncologist with Cancer Centers of the Carolinas, repeated Graham’s concerns over changes to Medicaid and Medicare. More than half the patients at the center – the largest provider of cancer care in the Upstate – pay through these programs, he said, and the reimbursements are already too low.

Graham backs the Wyden-Bennett healthcare proposal, also backed by seven Democrats and six other Republican, which would provide all Americans with insurance through an expansion of the private insurance sector. This would remove the ability to deny insurance for pre-existing conditions, and individuals would be given the ability to shop for plans across state lines.

“We need to lower costs and improve access,” Graham said.

Meanwhile, he said, he is drafting a letter along with several other Senate Republicans urging attorney general offices in 19 states to challenge the preference given to Florida in the current Senate bill.

“If you try to be too clever and go it alone despite the wishes of the American people, it will be impossible for a guy like me to work with you,” Graham said.

Comments

Add New

Leave a Comment
Comments are moderated and may not be posted immediately.
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."