Stark: State Efforts Will Build Support for Health Care Reform Nationwide

Statewide and nationwide efforts toward adopting universal health care must occur incrementally to secure public support, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) said Friday at a forum at Washington Hospital in Fremont, the Oakland Tribune reports.

Stark -- chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health, which oversees Medicare -- said that if California and a few other major states become successful models for adopting a universal health care system, nationwide support for health care reform would gradually increase.

The best method for achieving universal health care is to expand Medicare, Stark said, adding that it spends only 2% of funds on administrative costs and the rest on patient care. He argued that for-profit health care systems are not necessary.

In addition, Stark predicted that Congress would not pass health care reform legislation this year (Cavette, Oakland Tribune, 1/19).