McCain Hints Current State Of Health Care Reform Caused By His Election Loss

By Aaron Richardson-Talk Radio News Service

2008 Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) hinted during a press conference Wednesday that the current state of the proposed health care reform legislation is a result of his election loss.

“The bill includes a government plan the [Congressional Budget Office] says will force millions of Americans out of their current coverage. That’s not ‘keeping what you have if you like it’,” said McCain, referencing a claim commonly made by congressional Democrats and President Obama. “It will also leave millions of Americans uninsured. Elections have consequences, this is a glaring example of that.”

McCain was joined by other Republican members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions who also condemned the current state of the health care reform legislation.

“Its important that we get it right, that bill got it wrong,” said Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wy.)

Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H) expressed his disappointment with the lack of bi-partisanship seen in the bill’s formation.

“It’s just regrettable we were not allowed to be at the table when this bill was drafted so that we could have gotten… ideas into the bill. It was equally regrettable when we did offer amendments which were, in many instances, addressing the issues which the President has raised as his primary concerns. They unfortunately failed because they came from the other side of the aisle,” said Gregg.