Former

Tom Daschle gestures during his speech

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle gave a presentation based on the paper, "Paying More But Getting Less," which he produced for the Center for American Progress.

Washington, D.C., Daschle said, is very divided, and lawmakers need somehow to return to the bipartisanship that emerged in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks if they are to successfully address health care and other critical issues.

He mentioned then dismissed what he called three myths about the U.S. health care system. It is a myth, he said, that the United States has the best system in the world when it is ranked 37th by the World Health Organization on health system performance. It is also a myth, he said, that change would be too costly, when today's per capita spending of $5,200 is double what the next highest-spending country pays. Finally, he said, it is a myth that comprehensive reform would lead to rationing, especially given that, with 46 million uninsured people, the nation already has de facto rationing that occurs based on a person's ability to pay for treatment.

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Tom Daschle addresses conference attendees

health care costs, Daschle said, have negative effects across the economy, leading to employers producing fewer jobs and being less competitive. "It is imperative that we look at ways to deal with the health care crisis and the pension crisis in a far more meaningful way than we have in the past couple of years," Daschle said. This must be done, he added, in a comprehensive way that addresses cost, access and quality, since those factors are so "interrelated."

Finally, Daschle praised public sector employers for their sucesses in providing health care and pensions to their employees and urged them to take their experience and use it to promote system-wide health care reform. "You can be the educators," he said. "You can be the teachers. You can be the catalysts for change."