U.S. Senator Ken Salazar Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs Committees 2300 15^th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510
For Immediate Release January 30, 2006		CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Comm. Director 303-455-7600 Andrew Nannis – Press Secretary 202-224-5852
Sen. Salazar Urges President to Lead in Resolution of American Health Care Crisis Washington, DC – Today, Senator Ken Salazar wrote to President Bush in anticipation of the President’s State of the Union address committing to work across party lines to evaluate and enact proposals that solve our health care crisis. Sen. Salazar’s letter to the President follows: Dear Mr. President: I appreciate with anticipation your health care proposals in the State of the Union speech. With spiraling health care costs bankrupting families and American businesses, with over 45 million Americans without health insurance, and with health care spending exceeding 20 percent of the federal budget, our health care system is broken. I therefore strongly urge meaningful, bipartisan efforts to comprehensively reduce health care costs and expand quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Since 2000, health insurance premiums for families have risen by 71 percent and the number of uninsured has increased by 5 million. There is no question that Americans deserve our best efforts to enact legislation that comprehensively solves our health care crisis, not fragmented, piece-meal solutions that chip away at this massive national crisis and leave millions of Americans on their own. For these reasons, I urge you to work with Congress in a bipartisan manner to evaluate and enact proposals that meaningfully address health care spending, quality and access for every American. I am committed to working with you and my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to evaluate and enact proposals that solve our health care crisis. That is why I along with Senator McCain introduced the National Commission on Health Care Act (S. 2007) to establish a commission similar to the 9/11 Commission to comprehensively study our health care system, build upon the work of other commissions and enact meaningful, comprehensive solutions. I am convinced that a National Commission can serve as a vehicle and catalyst for meaningful solutions to reduce health care costs, increase health care quality and enhance access to health care for every American who needs health care coverage. I urge you to support this legislation and work with Congress to solve the health care crisis together. Respectfully, Ken Salazar United States Senator ###