Kansas Health Institute: Moran: Medicare, Medicaid should cover costs

“I hear people say (health reform) is unconstitutional. I disagree,” Johnston said. “In the preamble to the Constitution, it clearly states that the purpose is to promote the general welfare of the people, and I certainly see health care as fitting squarely within the construct of general welfare.”

Johnston said she views health care “as a right not a privilege in this country.”

She questioned Moran’s call for Medicare and Medicaid covering providers’ costs.

“It’s important that providers be compensated for their services,” Johnston said. “But what I find interesting is how Jerry Moran and others like him keep saying, ‘We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.’ That, to me, is a case of talking out of both sides of your mouth.”

Johnston said health providers have told her the nation’s health care system is broken and, in general, they support reform efforts.