As the pivotal vote on health care reform approaches, members of Congress are clarifying their stands. Maine 1st District Congresswoman Chellie Pingree told her colleagues yesterday she'll vote for the proposal. She quoted from a letter sent to her by a Maine doctor.
"She says, 'As a health care provider, I see patients in my office frequently who need surgery or medicine, but who cannot get the healthcare they really need because they do not have insurance. These are young, otherwise healthy women who are coping the best they can with their personal health issues. It doesn't make the national press, but the idea of women suffering day after day tugs at my heartstrings,'" Pingree quoted the doctor as saying.
Pingree says the letter is one of many she has received from Mainers urging passage of the health reform bill pushed by President Obama. She says the time for health reform is long overdue and Congress needs to act now to reform the system.
Maine 2nd District Congressman Mike Michaud has yet to declare his intentions. Michaud voted for a House proposal late last year, but said at the time the measure needed improvement.
A vote on the bill could come as soon as Sunday.