Merkley talks health care bill, blasts Bernanke at town hall
From our weekly issue dated January 20, 2010
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (right) chats with Josephine County Sheriff Gil Gilbertson (left) and Board of Commissioners Chairman Dwight Ellis. (Photo by Scott Jorgensen, Illinois Valley News)
Health care and banking policy were the main topics discussed by U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) during a Wednesday, Jan. 13 town hall meeting at the National Guard Armory in Merlin.
More than 70 people attended to hear from Merkley, who was introduced by Josephine County Commissioner and Illinois Valley resident Dave Toler.
Merkley briefed the audience on the health-care reform bill making its way through Congress. He said that the public option still is included in the House version of the bill, but not the Senate.
The emphasis of the legislation is on prevention and disease management, Merkley said.
Also included is a Health Care Bill of Rights, he said, which would eliminate the ability of insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions. Children would be allowed to stay on their parents“ policies until the age of 26 under that provision, he said.
A health insurance exchange currently is available for employees of the federal government, which provides a larger pool of purchasers and market clout and drives down prices, the senator said. He added that participation in the exchange would not be mandatory under the existing draft of the legislation.
Merkley said that the public option was excluded from the Senate version, despite his objections.
“There weren“t 60 votes for the public option,“ said the law-maker “I fought for it. I argued for it.“
However, Merkley said that the Senate bill has a model that would enable states to establish their own public option programs.
“That is a door that remains open,“ Merkley said.
The health-care package is estimated to cost $850 billion throughout the next 10 years, Merkley said. He put that figure into perspective by stating that the United States is spending between 17 and 18 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on health care right now, he said. By contrast, Europe spends only 10 percent.
Those costs put American companies at a “competitive disadvantage,“ he said. Costs have doubled in the last eight years and expected to keep rising, he added.
Merkley said he supported eliminating anti-trust exemptions for the insurance companies to increase competition in the industry, but any such provision did not make it into the bill.
Although Merkley said the bill is not “perfect,“ he added that the nation“s health care system is broken, and 30 million Americans without access to affordable health care would benefit from its passage.
On the subjects of banking and finance, the senator said that he was the only Democrat to vote against the re-appointment of Ben Bernanke to the chairmanship of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Bernanke did not regulate market derivatives, Merkley said, and oversaw the explosion of proprietary trading. That was made possible through the repeal of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which prevented banks from acting as investment houses.
“Nothing was done about it,“ Merkley said.
He blasted the Securities and Exchange Commission for dropping its leverage requirements for the nation“s top five investment banks, which led to the accelerated use of leverage and contributed to the current recession.
The Federal Reserve is charged with consumer protection, Merkley said, but those duties were put in the “basement“ with Bernanke at its helm.
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