Roe Accepts President Obama’s Offer To Go Over Health Bill 'Line-by-Line' PDF Print E-mail

In a town hall meeting, Obama invites members of Congress to go over health bill line-by-line

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congressman Dr. Phil Roe (TN-1) accepted the President’s offer to go over the health care bill with him “line-by-line.”  

Yesterday, at a town hall meeting in Raleigh, NC, CNN reported the President offering an invitation to members of Congress to go over the health care bill line-by-line in a statement:

“When we come back in September, I will be available to answer any questions that members of Congress have,” President Obama said in Raleigh. “If they want to come over to the White House and go over line-by-line what's going on, I will be happy to do that.” CNN

Enclosed is the letter Dr. Roe sent to the President accepting his invitation to go over the health care bill with him:

I am writing to accept your offer yesterday from your health care town hall meeting in Raleigh to “come over to the White House and go over line-by-line what's going on.”  

As a physician who helped patients for over 30 years, I am deeply concerned about some of the changes being proposed in this legislation.  From reading the 1,000+ pages of the House bill, H.R. 3200, a clear byproduct of the legislation will be an expansive new bureaucracy put directly between patients and the care recommended by their doctors.  

I would also like to share some experiences we have had in our state with TennCare, which was created in 1994 as a way to expand universal coverage and was written in a similar fashion to this legislation.  What we learned is that the costs rose dramatically, and the state had to cut people from the program because it was financially unsustainable.  

By sitting down and going through the bill together, we will come to some mutual understanding about why many House Republicans are raising concerns about the approach put forward in the bill in front of us.  Additionally, I would be happy to share some ideas on how we can enact bipartisan reforms that reduce the cost of and increase access to health insurance without increasing our deficits.

I appreciate your offer and stand ready to meet at your convenience.