FP Report -- 1999 Post-Assembly Edition
Assembly keynoter David Broder ponders health care policy
Budget caps in Congress create obstacles for health care policy, David Broder explains in his keynote address.The prospects are bleak for any substantial action on health care policy in the U.S. Congress this year, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist David Broder, who presented the Assembly keynote address Sept. 16 in Orlando, Fla.
It was believed that once the impeachment furor subsided, Congress would take a little time to recuperate and then get down to business after the August recess, said Broder, a national political correspondent for The Washington Post. "The reality is that it's not happening." With just two weeks left in this fiscal year, most 2000 appropriations bills have yet to reach the president's desk, he said.
Health care faces the additional obstacle of being lusted after by Democrats interested in framing the 2000 campaign and being dismissed by Republicans who don't want to hand any victories to a lame-duck president. But the gridlock extends beyond the beltway, Broder explained.
"This country -- not just this government -- is as closely balanced between Republican and Democrat as it has ever been," he said. "The public is equally attracted or equally distrustful of both parties. It's not simply partisan sniping but a fundamental disagreement on public policy."
The issues of cost, quality, access and long-term care simply aren't getting the attention they deserve on Capitol Hill, Broder said, quoting Donna Shalala, Ph.D., secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who said, "We have a dysfunctional system in health care in this country."
"She is right," said Broder, "but the chances that we are going to see politicians step up to that systemic challenge are not very good."
FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department. Copyright © 1999 by American Academy of Family Physicians.
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