By Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today
ormer GOP Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD, told hospital administrators Monday that he still "sort of likes" the healthcare reform bill that Democrats muscled through Congress earlier this year.
Yes, the same bill -- the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) -- that became law without an an iota of Republican support.
Frist, a thoracic surgeon, told Time magazine back in October that if he were still in Congress, he would vote for the bill. And his support apparently hasn't wavered. On Monday afternoon he said he would give an "A" grade to the provisions in the law aimed at expanding insurance to an additional 32 million people.
Cost, however, is another matter. While most Republicans would likely slap a failing grade on the cost aspect of the law, Frist said he'd rank it a "C."
"I like the bill," Frist said during a panel discussion with former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle at the American Hospital Association's (AHA's) annual meeting. "I think it's got lots of positive stuff in it, other than the costs."
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