Health Care's Survival

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Feb.28, 2010
All Rights Reserved.                                

         Faced with stiff GOP opposition to President Barack Obama’s 2,700-page health care reform bill, Senate and House Democrats plot new strategy to get some version passed this Spring.  Last week’s White House Health Care Summit failed to produce any breakthroughs, let alone the slightest consensus on moving forward.  Obama and Congressional Democrats wish to negotiate off the old bill, something opposed by most Republicans.  They find the current legislation, backed by President Obama, Senate Majority Leaser Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a costly boondoggle that shouldn’t see thee light of day.  Republicans agree with national polls showing 60% of respondents, regardless of Party affiliation, oppose the current legislation.  GOP critics find the Democrats’ bill too costly at a time of recession and exploding federal budget deficits.

            Obama faces a stiff challenge to his leadership not outside the Democratic Party  but inside with his ability to get Pelosi and Reid to fall in line.  Taking a battering in the polls, Barack has witnessed his approval ratings drop to under 48%, handing the reins to Democrats on Capitol Hill.  Since the Feb. 25 Summit, Capitol Hill Democrats, influenced by the president’s Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, have threatened to use the obscure “reconciliation” process, whereby they can pass the bill with a simple majority.  “Our members, everyone of them, wants health care,” Pelosi told ABC’s “This Week” with George Stephanapolous, missing the key point that nationwide polls show average Americans opposed to the Democratic plan 60% to 40%.  Working Americans with employer-based health insurance, though a shrinking group, have reservations about the Democratic plan.

            Pelosi knows there’s nothing bipartisan about a bill that can’t get one Republican vote.  Republicans are deeply concerned about the $1 trillion over 10 years price tag, something seen as unaffordable during a time of recession and whopping federal budget deficits.  Democrats haven’t accepted the GOP demand to find common ground and start from scratch on a new bill.  “It would be a political kamikaze mission for the Democratic Party if they jam this through after the American people have been saying, ‘Look, we’re trying to tell you in every way we know how, in elections, in surveys, in town hall meetings, we don’t want this bill,’” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), asking Obama to start from scratch.  Democrats hoped to show at last week’s summit that Republicans played only obstructionists, when the GOP presented some good reasons for opposing the current bill.

            Obama must decide which provisions of the bill are nonnegotiable and proceed to a compromise.  Major GOP objections stem from liberal language permitting abortion and overall costs that could add $100 billion a year to growing federal budget deficits.  Going the reconciliation route assures that the costliest piece of legislation since former President George W. Bush signed the bipartisan legislation into law in the 2003, the Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act, creating 2003 Part D Medicare prescription drug bill.  Four times more costly than originally estimated, Medicare Part D helped create the massive budget deficits seen under Bush.  Critics of Obama’s health care plan fear the same kind of cost-overruns, damaging the long-term health of the U.S. economy.  Legislation of such sweeping economic consequences requires true bipartisanship.

            Democrats must get over the loss of their supermajority and accept that national health care reform must include some GOP support.  House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) hinted that his Party was willing to go it alone.  “I would think that within the next couple of weeks we’re going to have a specific proposal and start counting votes to see whether or no those proposals could pass either the House of Senate.”  Democrats on the Hill must recalculate consequences of enacting one-sided legislation.  No piece of legislation with such major economic consequences should be railroaded through Congress.  Democrats should sit down with reasonable GOP leaders and hammer out a real compromise legislation.  With no public option left on the table, Democrats should be concerned about ending the insurance industry’s antitrust exemption, opening up interstate commerce and banning restrictions on preexisting conditions.

            Democrats need to go back to the drawing board, make necessary compromises and find common ground with Republicans.  Railroading one-sided health care legislation would have catastrophic political consequences for the Democratic Party.  Public opinion polls clearly show that the public wants compromise legislation.  Instead of counting votes, Capitol Hill Democrats should be more focused on crafting bipartisan legislation designed to get Republicans onboard.  Before it’s too late, Barack needs to assert his leadership on Capitol Hill, insisting on bipartisan legislation or threatening a presidential veto.  Pushing the bill through on a one-sided procedural vote would create lasting negative political fallout.  Getting back on track, Obama needs to rein-in Pelosi and Reid and insist on bipartisan legislation.  If he puts his foot down, Capitol Hill Democrats will fall in line.

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.