The following is a statement from Congressman Alan Grayson in response to President Barack Obama’s speech tonight to a Joint Session of Congress regarding health care reform:

Alan Grayson

“Tonight, the President laid out his plan for health care reform that will bring stability and security to health care in America.  He and I both want it to deliver peace of mind for everyone.  If you change jobs, lose your job, or lose your health, you should be able to get affordable health insurance. Under the President’s plan, you will be able to.

Recently, I held four “town hall”-type meetings and a telephone town hall meeting during eight days in August alone.  Health care questions dominated these forums.  During those events, I corrected many misconceptions about health care reform.  Tonight, President Obama likewise dispelled the countless myths spread by those bent on defeating this reform at all costs.  People need to judge health care reform on the facts, not on fears stemming from something that is nowhere in the bill.

Clearly, the need for health care reform is on the minds of the people I proudly represent. According to the Marist Poll last month, only six percent of America favors doing nothing.  Doing nothing is not an option.  As we move forward, I look forward to working with all sides to ensure the best ideas become part of this essential reform.

Finally, I often get asked if I will support a bill that does not include one provision or another.  My answer is simple:  I will support any bill that saves money and saves lives.”

Bill Nelson

BARTOW | Health care reform will pass Congress this year, but without many of the current provisions in House Bill and without a public health-care option, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson predicted today during a swing through Polk County.

Nelson was in the county to tour Summerlin Academy, a military-style public school in Bartow, and for a lunch with members of Citrus Mutual in Lakeland.

During a question-and-answer session with Summerlin cadets, Nelson said the House version of health-care reform cannot get the necessary 60 votes to avoid a filibuster and pass in the Senate.

Nelson later told The Ledger in an interview that he doesn’t think the option to have a public health-care plan can draw the necessary votes to pass the Senate.

“The public option is only one of hundreds of issues concerned with health care reform,” he said. “Public option means different things to different people. Some people think of it as socialized medicine, but that type is not, and has not ever been, considered. Still, any public option will not pass.”

The Senate has not written its version of the health-care reform bill yet. Work on that will begin Sept. 8 when the Senate reconvenes, and it will come out of the Senate Finance Committee, on which Nelson sits, probably sometime in late September.

“A big part of (the bill) will be shoring up Medicare and Medicaid. We do not have a bill yet because the Senate does not have consensus. We tried all summer to get consensus,” he said.

“I want consensus so that we can have as many people as possible with health care coverage, and we cannot get the 60 votes in the Senate with any public option,” Nelson said.

Nelson said it’s easy to understand the need for reforming health care in America.

“Go talk to someone whose employer’s insurance company has dropped coverage for the company,’’ he said.

For Nelson’s thoughts on other legislation pending before Congress and his answers to questions posed by Ledger readers, check back here and read Tuesday print edition of The Ledger.