Obama Pitches Insurance Rate Agency in Run-up to Summit
PBS NewsHour – Transcript
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JUDY WOODRUFF: For more on the reaction on Capitol Hill to both the substance and the politics of the president's plan, we are joined by two key members of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee: Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown and Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire.
Let's talk substance first.
Gentlemen, thank you for being with us.
SEN. JUDD GREGG, R-N.H.: Thank you, Judy.
SEN. SHERROD BROWN,D-Ohio: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And, Senator Brown, to you first.
What is there that you like, that you don't like in the president's proposal? What do you make of it?
SEN. SHERROD BROWN: I think it's still a good — what he's put together is — takes us forward significantly. It's, I think, what he's done on everything, from the way to pay for this, to coverage, to tax incentives for small business to provide coverage.
The insurance reforms are especially important, that people can stay on their parents' plan, young people, until they're 26. All of those are important components of this bill, the prevention, the wellness provisions.
There are — there are a number of Republican ideas in this bill. Judd and I sat on the Health Committee last summer when we — when we wrote this bill. We accepted 160 Republican amendments. So, there is a Republican flavor to this bill.
On some of the big questions, there is philosophical disagreement, but the country clearly voted for change to move forward on this health insurance legislation.
