Wu Willing to Wager Health Care Bill for Higher Rates

Congressman David Wu (D-OR) signed on to the 'Blue Dog" letter to Nancy Pelosi threatening to scuttle health care reform legislation pending in the House. In a letter responding to constituents' concerns for the passage of H.R. 3200 the Affordable Health Choices Act, Representative Wu says:

Physicians across the state are suffering under these low rates, being paid for only a fraction of their comprehensive costs every time they see a Medicare patient. Because of this ongoing problem, I recently signed on to a letter to Speaker Pelosi expressing my serious concern that H.R. 3200 does not sufficiently address the geographic variation that exists in the flawed way Medicare reimburses physicians...

The letter to constituents does not specifically address whether the Congressman will vote for the bill regardless of whether it addresses the "geographic variations" or not. Nor does it identify which letter to Pelosi he signed. Forty conservative members of Congress--so-called 'Blue Dogs'--sent a letter opposing any health reform that did not meet a list of provisions they demanded be in the final legislation on July 9. On July 16 a group of 21 first term congress members signed a letter objecting to taxing the wealthy to help pay for the legislation. Five signed both letters. Wu is a six term legislator from Oregon's 1st Congressional District. That makes 57 Democrats opposed to central features of the pending legislation. And Wu was one of them. Fortunately, for those of us wanting affordable health care for every American, progressive Democrats reached a deal with the obstructionists late today.