Pelosi Assesses Long-Term Care Issues at Forum
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Tuesday held a forum with Democratic leaders, members of the Bush administration and medical experts to discuss long-term health care issues, CongressDaily reports.
Forum attendees included CDC Director Julie Gerberding, National Cancer Institute Director John Niederhuber, NIH Director Elias Zerhouni, House Ways and Means Committee Chair Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) and House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.).
Democratic aides said that the forum focused on medical research and technological advances but also addressed access to care and the issue of the uninsured.
In a statement, Pelosi said that many U.S. residents, some of whom have health insurance, do not receive necessary preventive care for chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
According to CongressDaily, the statement indicates that Democrats "might be adding issues such as quality of care and prevention to their health message this year" (Johnson, CongressDaily, 1/15).