Bingaman talks about role in health care reform

Posted at: 10/16/2009 4:44 PM | Updated at: 10/16/2009 6:29 PM
By: Jeremy Jojola, Eyewitness News 4; Charlie Pabst, KOB.com

As Congress tries to hash out health care reform in Washington, D.C., New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman talks about his role in putting together the plan.

There's talk that a health care reform bill could be on the president's desk by the end of the year.

For Democrats, a sign of hope when two senate committees passed two different bills this week— one of them includes a public option.

The other bill— without a public option— included a vote by a Republican, which Democrats are taking as a good sign.

Republicans have been fighting the Democrats, saying their idea of reform costs too much, and say it would lead to higher health care prices.

Senator Bingaman, a Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee— one of the most powerful committees in the Senate— voted for a version that could merge into one final bill.

Bingaman said, "It provides opportunities for a lot of low income and moderate income families that currently don't have coverage, to retain coverage, and it provides, it establishes these health insurance exchanges in each state where people can go in and shop the best value for their health coverage."

Although the version of the bill he voted for doesn't include a public option, Bingaman says he would like to see one in the final bill.

He says the Senate could vote on a health care reform bill in the next couple of weeks.

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