From The Telegraph of Illinois:
With the proposed health care reform up for a vote this week, U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Belleville) said he is unsure of what the outcome will be.
“As of today, it looks like the process that will be followed will be that the speaker intends to have us vote on the Senate-passed bill and then a separate bill with corrections to the Senate bill,” he said. “I’m opposed to the Senate bill in its current form.”
His concerns with voting for the Senate bill are that it would allow public funding for abortions, that the congressional budget office has yet to determine the cost of the bill, and that partially funding the bill by slowing the growth of Medicare by $500 billion would adversely affect senior citizens.
“I don’t like the process at all – I think the White House and the leadership has bungled this from the start,” he said. “It’s so complicated that the American people are fearful of what’s in the bill – this is a very complex issue that affects every man, woman and child, and it’s so complex that it scares people.”
While the vast majority of calls, e-mails and letters Costello has received are opposed to the bill, he said that not one person has said nothing needs to be done.
Instead, Costello believes legislation should be passed that addresses three or four key issues that would garner bipartisan support, such as allowing coverage for pre-existing conditions, revoking insurance companies’ anti-trust exemption to allow greater competition in the industry to bring down rates, extending insurance coverage for dependents until age 26 and establishing community health care clinics for the uninsured to have access to preventive health care.