Obama Holds Impromptu Healthcare Press Conference

Printer-friendly

Email article

Related subjects: Economic Recovery, Healthcare Policy, Legislation, Obama administration, Presidential Addresses, U.S. Economy, U.S. news, U.S. Politics Comments Off

17 July 2009 :: staff

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report that calls into question whether plans now under debate in Congress would achieve the cost-effectiveness Pres. Obama seeks has 6 senators saying they want the reform process to “slow down”. They seek a “budget-neutral” plan, as called for by the president. Obama does not want to slow down the process, argues that the administration has already located savings to pay for reform over 10 years, and is opposed to conservative Democratic senators’ desire to tax healthcare benefits to raise revenues.

Pres. Obama has consistently said, since his campaign for the presidency began in February 2007 that comprehensive healthcare reform, aimed at making “quality, affordable healthcare” available to all Americans, is a vital part of any broad reforms meant to stabilize government spending and fix cracks in the economy. He has said this is his number one domestic priority and that critics should not “bet against” him and his allies. He has vowed to push “meaningful” reform through Congress by the end of the year.

Conservative Democratic senators are seen to be behind the new stalling on Capitol Hill. Critics say some, like Max Baucus (D-MT) are “afraid” to vote for any reform that does not locate new revenues to pay for what could be cost overruns from a “public option”. Observers area already painting today’s dust-up as a sign of mounting rivalry between the views of Pres. Obama and those of Sen. Baucus, with the two pitted against each other on points of fiscal policy, related to their ideological and electoral bases.

Obama has already won significant incremental “victories” in the scope of the healthcare debate by bringing conservative opponents of healthcare reform designed to achieve universal coverage into his vocabulary. Today on CNN, Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) told Rick Sanchez he and his Republican colleagues agree that reform aimed at making coverage affordable and bringing costs down across the board has to be the goal, for broader reasons of economic stability, if not for reasons of social justice.

Blunt even said his party is willing to negotiate to “get beyond the pre-existing conditions barrier”. Republicans have tended to side with the insurance industry in its opposition to a ban on denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions. Pres. Obama has been adamant that such denial of coverage undermines the integrity of the healthcare system and leads to significant injustices against patients most in need of care.

Blunt went far beyond what many Republicans have previously been willing to discuss in terms of universalizing coverage by proposing that the uninsured be allowed to buy into the federal government employees healthcare plan (FGEH). Blunt said the plan allows for a wide range of choices, and that beneficiaries can choose to buy a more expensive or less expensive option, with benefits corresponding to price. Many argue that this will only work if the problem of affordability is adequately addressed. Blunt did not say how he would fund such an expansion of the FGEH plan.

After a long wait, Pres. Obama appeared and immediately launched into his remarks. He asked all those involved in debating healthcare reform to “take a step back” and to consider the “unprecedented progress” achieved in building consensus for a viable, affordable healthcare reform initiative. He then listed a number of specific points of reform around which consensus is building to an unprecedented level.

He listed the following areas where nearly all stakeholders agree:

• Wellness programs to help people stay healthy
• Insurance forms and paperwork
• Affordable continuous coverage in case of lost job
• Pre-existing medical conditions
• Effective health insurance “exchange”, where consumers can compare coverage options
• Lower costs for all the insured

The president went on to explain that cost is central to the entire issue of healthcare reform. He reiterated his requirement that healthcare reform be “deficit neutral”, meaning that it will not require any additional expansion of government revenues (tax increases). He then said that ”the bill I sign will also contain my commitment and the commitment of Congress to slow the costs of healthcare”, specifying that the “cost-per” patient or treatment must come down.

He announced plans to have an independent board of top medical experts to oversee the long-term effectiveness of cost-saving measures, making sure care is never compromised, treatment always available, and plans to lower costs over time able to achieve affordability for all. The president urged Congress to keep pushing debate forward, saying “I realize that the last few miles in the race are the hardest to run, but now is not the time to slow down”.

He said failure to reform the US healthcare market would jeopardize the prosperity, health and wellbeing of the next generation, as skyrocketing costs continue to erode the dynamism of the American economy and hamper the federal government’s spending discretion. He admonished his critics, saying “those who are betting against this happening this year are badly mistaken” and promising reform “is going to happen this year”.

Obama did not specifically explain where the estimated one-third of the total costs of reform required to guarantee universal coverage would come from, but he said revenues can be found without raising taxes or inflating the deficit. He also reminded the press and members of Congress that the mounting consensus now includes nurses groups, the AARP, the AMA and even segments of the insurance industry. His address was clearly aimed at putting the onus on Congress to show stamina and commitment to needed reforms.

   Send article as PDF   

Printer-friendly

Email article