NLC urges Congress to move health care legislation.

When the House adjourned on July 31, all three committees of jurisdiction had passed their versions of health care reform legislation; when the Senate adjourned on Friday, August 7, only the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee had adopted a bill.

While NLC has not yet determined which version of health care reform legislation it will support, NLC has made it clear to the Congress that cities want legislation that will ensure that all Americans have access to affordable and appropriate health care and that will cut the growth in health care costs.

In early July, NLC's Board of Directors approved a resolution calling for comprehensive health care reform that reduces the rate of growth in health care costs and improves access to health care for all Americans, including wellness and preventive services and a public health plan option.

In a statement released on July 31, NLC President Kathleen M. Novak, mayor Northglenn, Colo., commended Presiderrt Barack Obama, the House of Representatives and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee for making progress on efforts to enact legislation that would, transform the country's health care system.

"The rising costs of health care are unsustainable for the country's hardworking families, as well as for our cities and towns, which spend more than $87 billion each year or nearly 17 percent of their budgets for health care benefits for their employees, retirees and their families," said Novak.

NLC continues to urge Congress to move quickly and pass health care reform legislation.

As NLC president Novak pointed out in her statement: "As municipal leaders, we see every day the impact the lack of affordable health care has on the millions of underinsured and uninsured who live in our communities, which is why Congress and the Administration must complete what they set out to achieve--reform of the nation's health care system."

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