Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Patty Murray (D-WA) both attended a meeting yesterday with President Obama to discuss ways to keep down the cost of forthcoming health care legislation.
Obama reportedly asked Senators to find some of the revenue within the tax code, similar to his budget plan, in which he recommended a cap on itemized deductions. Cantwell, who has advocated for tax reform and hasn’t been a supporter of the deductions idea, has her own plan.
The Senator announced a bill today she put together with Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), that would give out government incentives for primary-care physicians.
Cantwell’s main claim, which she made at a press conference in Yakima last week, is that an increase in primary-care physicians would put the emphasis on prevention and save money (Cantwell says about $55 billion) in the long run.
In the meeting, Obama went into the particulars of the plan with Senators on the Finance and Health Committees–including Cantwell and Murray–which will be drafting the initial legislation.
“The details of the bill are still being worked out and we’re hopeful to see something next week,” Murray spokeswoman Alex Glass told PubliCola, declining to go into specifics about what kind of funding proposals Murray supports for the legislation
