- Obama kicks off campaign with $50 billion jobs plan
- UK police seek information on newspaper eavesdropping
- Firm can't fire man for 1.8 cent theft
- Hermine strengthens off Mexico
- God did not create the universe, says Hawking
- German party mistakenly hands out porn pens to kids
- Growth hopes boost global equities | Video
- Clooney outdraws "Machete" at holiday box office
- What might make the Fed flinch?
- RPT-UPDATE 1-Wall St Week Ahead: Stocks fly into September
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. NASDAQ delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Obama's healthcare summit sets stage for end-game
A resident of south Florida holds a sign protesting healthcare reforms during a visit by President Obama to Miami, October 26, 2009.
Credit: Reuters/Carlos Barria
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's call for a healthcare summit including both his fellow Democrats and Republicans sets the stage for a final push to get stalled legislation through Congress, but skeptical Republicans said on Monday the only solution is to start over.
Obama asked Republicans to bring their best ideas for overhauling the U.S. healthcare system to the February 25 conference in hopes of rejuvenating the issue, which has floundered since Democrats lost their crucial 60th Senate vote last month.
The summit, which Obama wants televised, would give him another chance to sway public opinion on the unpopular legislation, which is critical to his domestic agenda.
The meeting also would answer criticism that Obama did not engage Republicans and instead negotiated backroom deals in an effort to get healthcare legislation passed.
"The president is trying to turn around the sour mood on this issue and mitigate the criticism that he's ramming this bill down people's throats," said Bob Blendon, a health policy and political analyst at Harvard University.
But congressional Republicans said they were wary of Obama's intentions and in no mood to compromise on a plan that polls show is opposed by a majority of Americans.
"Republicans welcome honest discussion, but this event reeks of political gamesmanship," said Republican Representative Tom Price. "The only constructive discussions will start with a blank sheet of paper."
The White House said the summit was not intended as a vehicle to start the healthcare debate all over again.
The reform effort would lead to the biggest policy changes in the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system since the creation of the Medicare government health insurance program for the elderly in 1965.
"The president doesn't think we should start over," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said.
The session will give Republicans a chance to explain their unified opposition to the bill. They see their stance as a key to their upset victory in Massachusetts last month, when Republican Scott Brown claimed the Senate seat of late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy.
NO COMPROMISE
"I don't think it's probably possible to compromise on this bill," Representative Dave Camp, the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told Reuters.
"The structure of it is done in such a way that it is going to raise costs, raise taxes and empower government to get between people and their doctors," he said.
Some said the setting -- a televised meeting of top leaders in both parties -- could lead to more political point-making than compromise and progress.
"In Washington, negotiations don't happen in front of cameras," Concept Capital, a private firm that tracks Congress and the White House for investors, wrote in a report.
Fox News said on Monday it had obtained a letter sent to Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, by John Boehner and Eric Cantor, the top two Republicans in the House, questioning Obama's commitment to working with members of both parties.
Obama's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that, on the contrary, the president was looking forward to reviewing Republican ideas.
"He's open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny," Gibbs said in a statement. "What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it. The recent news that a major insurer plans to raise premiums for some customers by as much as 39 percent is a stark reminder of the consequences of doing nothing."
A summit marked by more partisan gridlock could give Obama an excuse to move ahead on the bill through a budget process that requires only a simple majority of 51 votes in the 100-member Senate, bypassing Republican opposition.
"Obama seems to be sending a signal they are going to go for the end run," Blendon said. "When he does, he can say 'I tried.'"
The battle over healthcare has consumed Congress since summer and Democrats are anxious to focus on job creation and the economy before congressional elections in November.
The bills would extend coverage to millions of the uninsured and impose restrictions on insurers like requiring them to cover those with pre-existing medical conditions.
The Senate and House of Representatives had passed separate bills last year and were working to merge them when Brown's election cut the process short.
Democrats said they hope to end the process before the summit so they have a final product to offer and that their bills already include many Republican ideas.
"We have promoted the pursuit of a bipartisan approach to health reform from day one," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said.
(Additional reporting by Donna Smith, Steve Holland, Susan Cornwell and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Vicki Allen)
Looks like the Dems are losing the message war again. It was no accident Fox received a copy of the letter and that they’ve had GOP politician’s setting the stage that either the Dems scrap everything they’ve done or don’t expect their participation.
The GOP has no incentive to do health care so what do they care? The status quo works fine for them.
Doctors treat patients and the only thing insurance companies do is collect money for providing no service at all! The insurance companies cream the system. The insurance companies have all sorts of ways to deny coverage to those in need. As a result, United States pays almost double for health care than other countries that have single payer health care systems do. The problem is that both Republicans and Democrat parties are beholden to special interests that fund their campaigns and there is no way either party has any intention of doing what is best for the American people until campaign finance reform fixes that problem!
It is obvious that insurance companies exist to make money! The best way they can do that is to collect premiums and to avoid paying health care expenses. So if you are an insurance company, you do a medical exam or if you know of some sort of pre-existing condition that could incur health care costs, such as an enlarged heart, then you simply decline to provide that person insurance. Also, if you are an insurance company, you want to collect the premiums though out the person’s life but not when the get old because about 85% of a person’s lifetime medical costs occur in the last couple of weeks before their death. The way the insurance companies do that of is to rely on the government to pay those expenses, we call that medicare. In short, the insurance companies collect a lifetime of revenue but avoid the major health care costs.
This is a Democratic dog and pony show. Their only purpose is to show the nation that Republicans have only one word in their vocabulary: No. Fine. Keep on saying no and hell no! The Dems have staked everything on this healthcare bill. It’s monstrous. It deserves to die. But Republicans, whereever you are, when they make you say that very good word – no – shout it at them.
I have not spoken to anyone who wants this bill to go through without a public option. If there is no public option then the bill is just a piece of garbage that should not make it out of congress.
The republicans have no incentive to make the bill any better. It’s against their interests to make sure the citizenry have a public option. They do not represent the people. They represent corporate “people”.
Benny_Acosta – NEITHER party represents the American people! BOTH parties represent insurance companies interests. As a result, insurance companies make billions of dollars collecting insurance premiums for health care expenses the government pays for with your tax money. It is a great scam funded by insurance companies who pay BOTH parties. Until campaign finance reform it won’t be fixed either.
The Obama Plan
What is Obama trying to do with all this spending? He is trying to cause a collapse. Why would he cause a collapse? A collapse is the only way that you could stage a massive takeover of the united states. He has already built the frame work for this takeover. So what is holding him up. The Health Care bill is a key part in causing this collapse. The amount of money that will be required to fund the Health Care bill is a key player. If the Health Care bill passes; Then other planned bills will complete the collapse process. This is why I have called on every single American to do whatever is in their means to stop this takeover. May GOD walk with you and protect you in your journey to save America. The Anti-Christ is here and his name is Obama.
I’m not so sure about both parties representing the insurance industry. I suppose that there are some democrats that side with the corporate constituency. But over all the republicans are the loudest and strongest in their support of big business.
There comes a point when the folks in congress need to listen to each other. But the problem as far as I can see it is that our representatives are more concerned with securing their own interests than securing the interests of the citizenry as a whole.
We need transparency in government which was promised by Obama but not delivered. But then again it’s the prerogative of congress to decide if it wants to be seen as it does its work.
Congress has gotten fat, lazy, and far too self interested. They serve themselves when they are supposed to be serving us.
wyn – Actually, it is more like a “magic show” than a “dog and pony show.” It is simply a game both parties play to distract you from what is really happening.
