House Speaker, in Philadelphia for Health Care Reform, Predicts Passage Soon

by KYW's Kim Glovas and Mike DeNardo

US House speaker Nancy Pelosi brought the national health care debate to Philadelphia on Monday, and predicted that a health care reform bill will pass in the next several weeks.

But she was less sanguine about the chance that the measure would include a "public" option, which some say would be necessary for an effective overhaul of our nation's health care system:

"I have said very clearly that no bill can pass the House of Representatives without a public option in it.  The public option saves over $100 billion over the ten year period of the bill -- that's hard to ignore."

Congressional Democrats are hoping Pelosi's visit will help write a prescription of support for President Obama's plan to reform the health care system.
  
Pelosi says the cost of the current health care system is bleeding most Americans dry:

"In the past ten years, health care premiums have gone up over 130 percent.  That is three times faster than wages and four times faster than inflation. It's unsustainable."

And she says that health care in the US should be a right and not a privilege.

Pelosi was visiting Thomas Jefferson University Hospital on Monday for a tour and news conference with Philadelphia Democratic members of Congress Bob Brady, Chaka Fattah, and Allyson Schwartz.

They were meeting with a small business owner who described the difficulty she's had getting health coverage for her son, who has a pre-existing condition. 

They were also hearing from an emergency room doctor who was expected to describe how everyone pays when an uninsured person goes to the ER for treatment.  By his estimate, uninsured patients cost every American family about $1,000 per year as a hidden "tax."