DNC Chairman releases statement on President's bipartisan health reform summit

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine released the following statement tonight on the President's bipartisan health reform summit:

"Today's summit on the future of health care in this country, while far from resolving all of the differences between Republicans and Democrats on reforming our broken health insurance system, was a huge win for the American people.  

"For over seven hours today, the President led a vigorous, respectful and historic discussion with representatives from both parties and houses in Congress about how best to reform this country's broken health insurance system.  At every opportunity, the President displayed genuine devotion to delving into the specifics of the proposals and sought, wherever possible, to resolve key differences and find common ground.

"During today's meeting, the President continued to seek bipartisan agreement on issues of importance to the American people. Of course, differences do remain.  Democrats made the case for their comprehensive approach that lowers costs, increases coverage and curbs unfair and discriminatory insurance industry practices.  The Republicans have not offered comprehensive counter-proposals that achieve these goals and continue to favor a piecemeal approach that has empowered insurance companies to increase the numbers of uninsured, provide less security for those who are insured and increase health care costs for all Americans.

"It continues to be clear, and today both parties agreed, that we can no longer defer action on addressing this country's broken health insurance system.  This country cannot continue to wait for comprehensive action on health insurance reform and incremental steps will not achieve the type of meaningful reform American families and businesses so desperately need.  Accordingly, I echo the President's call today for Republicans to dig deep and identify areas where agreements can be forged on issues like expanding insurance coverage for the millions who lack it and guaranteeing that all consumers have access to care."