Health Reform Uncertainties – National Consumers League

The election of Senator Kennedy’s successor has led to numerous discussions about the future of health reform, but advocates are encouraging Members of Congress—from both sides of the aisle—to keep their eyes on the prize.

“We need to put partisan concerns aside and work NOW to ensure that the system is reformed. The cost of doing nothing is unthinkable,” said NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg.

Senator Kennedy, who lost his battle with cancer last summer, was a friend of consumers and workers; Senator Kennedy called upon the Obama Administration to reinstate the White House Office of Consumer Affairs and was a champion of workers, fighting tirelessly for minimum wage increases for working families and health care for all. In his honor and in the spirit and history of the League, NCL is committed to reforming a system to ensure that “everyone has access to affordable health care or the system will remain broken.”

For decades, NCL has been dedicated to achieving quality improvements to America’s health care system. In the 1930s, NCL’s Josephine Roche authored the first universal health care proposal and today, NCL is at the forefront of advocating for comprehensive health reform with legislation that is patient-centered and cost-efficient.

NCL encourages law makers on either side of the aisle to remember what this debate is about – improving the access to and quality of health care in America, for all Americans, addressing why we are overpaying for care that is not making us healthier.