Obama's Health Care Summit

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Feb.26, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

           Meeting with members of Congress to find a compromise on health care reform, President Barack Obama refused to go back to square-one, expecting Republicans to accept at least some provisions of his 2,700-page health care reform bill.  Republicans want to start from scratch, offering a more cautious way forward to deal with the nation’s health care crisis.  Barack’s original bill would have forced all Americans to buy government-subsidized health insurance, assuring, both rich and poor, a baseline of insurance benefits.  For those unable to afford the coverage, Barack’s bill would subsidize insurance for individuals meeting an income test, costing the government around $1trillion over 10 years.  Republicans, on the other hand, agree with a few Democratic ideas to (a) ban insurers from excluding preexisting conditions and (b) open up interstate competition.

            After a spirited all-day debate, Barack seemed discouraged at the prospects of finding common ground.  “I don’t know, frankly, whether we can close that gap,” said Obama, warning that if a compromise isn’t reached “a lot of arguments about procedures in Congress about moving forward,” alluding to Democrats’ “go-it-alone” strategy, where a simple majority vote could move the bill to the president’s desk.  Pulling a fancy maneuver would carry political risks to the president, already battered by a weak economy and recent polls showing 60% of voters don’t like the current version of health care reform.  Democrats badly misjudged the middle class response to health care reform, skeptical of a government plan and concerned about losing their current employee-based health care plans.  Democrats addressed their legislation largely to an unemployed population, generally less interested in politics.

            Instead of playing hardball with Republicans, Barack should tell House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) that, no matter how reluctantly, the Party must start over.  Railroading the bill on a procedural vote runs against not only public opinion polls but also Congressional tradition.  Democrats’ dogged insistence on pushing health care reform in the middle of a stubborn recession with exploding budget deficits has wasted much of Barack’s political capital.  “Frankly, I was discouraged by the outcome,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), urging Democrats “to start over and go step-by-step and target areas of possible agreement that we discussed in the meeting today.”  McConnell’s approach clearly represents the only realistic way forward from the current gridlock, leaving health care reform unlikely.

             Obama’s real test is whether or not he can join Republicans, as McConnell suggests, to start over and find common ground.  Republicans want nothing to do with Democrats’ one-sided health care reform bill.  “I think the American people want us to work together on common steps to maker or current system better,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), adding, “we can’t do it within the framework of a 2,700 bill.” Democrats must get over past wishes and realize it’s a whole new ballgame since they lost their supermajority Jan. 19 when Republican Scott Brown won the late Sen. Ted Kennedy’s Massachusetts’ senate seat.  Republicans felt cut out and railroaded by the Democrats’ one-sided version of health care reform.  All agree, that insurance companies, like WellPoint’s Anthem Blue Cross, shouldn’t pass on whopping rate increases when making billions in profit.

            Obama’s major concern about health care reform involved access and affordability.  With 40-million uninsured Americans, there’s an urgent need for better access and affordability.  Barack often talks about the urgency of health care reform both in terms of the people’s needs and that of the economy.  He’s never satisfactorily explained how the $100 billion a year price tag helps deal with growing budget deficits and a weak economy.  Barack had a good opportunity to allocate more resources to domestic spending but chose Nov. 30, 2009 to add 30,000 more troops to accelerate an end to the Afghan War.  Given the budget constraints, Democrats can’t have it both ways:  Dramatically expanding military spending and subsidizing costly health care reform.  No matter how frustrating, McConnell and Boehner’s approach represents the best way forward.

            Barack wants a bottom line of better health care access and affordability.  He should work with the GOP to (a) end the insurance industry’s antitrust exemption, (b) legislate a ban on denying preexisting conditions and (c) open up interstate commerce to reduce premium prices.  Whatever Democrats wanted before, they must start over and compromise to get bipartisan legislation.  Railroading the old bill won’t sit well with a public already opposed by [60%-40%] to passing Democrats’ one-sided health care reform.  Barack’s key to success involves taking the lead and insisting Pelosi and Reid follow him.  Republicans know that some version of health care reform must pass or they face hell to pay at the polls.  Ending the insurance industry’s antitrust exemption, banning the practice of excluding preexisting conditions and opening up interstate competition would be a good first start.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.