Cong. Murphy Takes Part in Health Care Summit

Congressman Tim Murphy of Upper St. Clair came out of Thursday’s White House summit on Health Care Reform saying he is optimistic the process will produce good results. He says unlike past efforts this seems to be a ground up effort taking in a broad range of ideas. He says there is even a feeling of bipartisanship in the early stages of the effort. Murphy says, "It was a productive day and I am impressed with the effort put forth by the White House to bring together all stakeholders, regardless of political orientation, to come up with real solutions for meaningful health care reforms.” He says it is now up to Congress and the other parties to continue the dialog. Murphy went on to say his focus will continue to be on getting costs under control, “Health care costs have gone up faster than wages for years, and yet many who spoke about ‘reform’ in the past were referring to the government taking over health care, or expanding Medicare coverage to the uninsured. Today the President said there were no sacred cows and that we should look at every aspect of health care for real reform.” Murphy says as much as 30% of the $2.3 trillion spent on health care annually can be attributed to waste and could be eliminated without reducing health care quality. That would include efforts to eliminate the misuse of drugs; use more effective treatments; and ending Medicare and Medicaid fraud. Listen to a portion of an interview with Tim Murphy.