Panel, Senate Hearing Address Universal Health Coverage

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 17 Sep 2007 - 5:00 PDT

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The following summarizes recent coverage about the universal health care debate.

• Access: Increasing access to medical care is not enough to solve the extensive and complex health needs of at-risk groups, health experts said on Tuesday during a panel sponsored by Health Affairs, CQ HealthBeat reports. Speakers said that factors including socioeconomic status, education and environment are bigger determinants of overall health care than access. A related report appears in the September/October issue of the magazine. Nicole Lurie, director of the RAND Center for Population Health and Health Disparities, said, "How you fare is how you live," adding that there is "extremely strong evidence that where you live and who you live with have really important effects on your biology" (Webber, CQ HealthBeat, 9/11).
  
  The report is available online.
  
  A webcast of the panel discussion is available online at kaisernetwork.org.
  
  
• Senate hearing: At a Senate Budget Committee hearing Tuesday about universal coverage, committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said there needs to be bipartisan support of universal health care, especially among presidential candidates, regardless of the type of system put into place, CQ HealthBeat reports. "Rising health care costs represent the most significant threat to our national budget," he said, adding, "Part of the solution ... is that we need to have universal health coverage." Conrad suggested testing different methods in several states. During the hearing, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) endorsed a nationalized system, saying, "I think health care, just like education, should be a right of all people." According to CQ HealthBeat, "No single approach seemed to garner the most favor among panel lawmakers" (Walker, CQ HealthBeat, 9/11).
  

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