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Just as Congress begins to close a deal on health care reform, Democratic National Committee spokesperson Derrick Plummer points out the obstructionism and "false claims" of U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn over the issue.
According to the DNC, Coburn, a Republican from Muskogee, remains part of a GOP movement that will try to repeal health care reform legislation if it passes. This is what Plummer had to say about the senator in a media release issued on Thursday: |
After months of spreading false claims and employing scare-tactics with the goal of dissuading the American people from supporting health insurance reform, Sen. Coburn is now finally admitting that his primary interest is defending insurance companies' massive profits and freedom to abuse consumers rather than standing up for the people of Oklahoma.
The American people should make no mistake. Coburn's calls for repeal of health insurance reform would mean a return to the same discriminatory health insurance company practices that are breaking American families' savings accounts, forcing small businesses into bankruptcy and endangering the long-term health and stability of our economy.
The provisions in this health insurance reform legislation that Coburn proposes to repeal include expanding health insurance coverage to 30 million Americans, providing insurance security for Americans who lose their jobs, ending lifetime limits on insurance coverage, extending the period of time that young adults can reside on their parents' coverage and providing relief for small businesses and employers who share the burden of sky-rocketing insurance costs with their employees. Halting progress on this historic legislation would deny every American - young or old, wealthy or poor, those with coverage or without - access to critical benefits that would improve their quality and access to health care.
Certainly, this is a political statement, and the pending health care legislation is far from perfect. Even some progressives oppose it because it doesn't do enough to make health care more affordable, and it gives too much to the insurance industry. But it's clear Coburn, who is physician, has done nothing seriously to try to change the broken health care system. Why? Oklahoma has some of the worst medical outcomes in the nation as documented by report after report. According to one government report, health insurance premiums have risen by 77 percent here since 2000. The same report argues that health care reform would allow 639,000 uninsured Oklahomans to get insurance.
Again, you might think Coburn, as a physician, would be concerned about poor medical outcomes and access, but he's turned his back on Oklahoma families once again. |
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