Obama Vows to Push Forward on Healthcare Reform
Defending Democratic efforts, the president said that "we are going to have to get this done"
Despite growing concerns in Washington about the House's newly unveiled healthcare bill, President Obama vowed Friday to push ahead with reform, saying in a hastily arranged speech from the White House that "we are going to have to get this done."
His remarks came one day after Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf told a Senate committee that the House bill, which was released Tuesday amid much fanfare, would not achieve "the sort of fundamental changes" needed to halt runaway federal spending on healthcare.
The CBO's analysis is usually viewed as something of a gold standard by politicians, so Elmendorf's words quickly ricocheted around the city, eliciting uproar from both parties and prompting the White House to put the president before cameras late Friday afternoon to reassert his agenda.
Though Obama did not explicitly refer to the CBO report, he did pledge that the packages being put together by Democrats in Congress will achieve two overriding goals: overhauling the healthcare system and eliminating unnecessary spending while not adding to the country's debt.
Obama has been pressing Congress to move quickly on legislation since the spring, and earlier this week his prodding finally seemed to yield results. The House unveiled its bill on Tuesday, and by Friday morning two of the three House committees that must OK the bill before it goes to the House floor for a vote had approved it. And on Wednesday, the Senate Health Committee approved a similar bill of its own.
By any measure, these gains were precarious, and Elmendorf's comments added new skepticism about the White House effort. On Friday morning, the votes in the two House committees were relatively tight, with some conservative Democrats voting with Republicans against the bill.
As he has done before, Obama tried to use his speech to refocus Congress and the media on the broader effort to reform healthcare and the consequences of not doing so, rather than on the day-to-day developments in the Capitol. "I realize that Washington is often focused on the 24-hour news cycle," the president said. "I want everybody to step back for a moment and look at the unprecedented progress we have made on reform."
Obama rattled off agreements he has reached in recent months with industry groups, including pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and health insurance providers, and said they represent "a level of consensus around healthcare reform that we have never seen before in this country." He also asked Congress, as part of its reform, to set up an independent panel of doctors and medical experts to annually evaluate ways to lower costs.
Whether Obama's speech achieved his goal of calming Democrat's nerves will be most evident in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the third committee that has to approve the bill. California Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the committee, has planned hearings over several days next week and will have to find a way to convince the eight fiscally conservative "blue dog" Democrats on his committee to support the bill.
Reader Comments
The perfect should not be the enemy of the good
This spring, due to the demand decrease, the highest fuel price came down below $40 per barrel, though, the 'similar' insurance premiums still go on rising, which may imply that health care is not optional, but essential, and the inaction could bankrupt family, business, and government beyond this recession, as all across the board agree.
Earlier, the revised HELP BILL with the public option and employer mandatory has got a green light from the CBO, yet still, a new 'incomplete' analysis of emerging House legislation said it would increase deficits by $239 billion over a decade.
But, CBO does not score any savings from prevention / wellness and the rest, even as Prevention / Wellness is an actual and essential part of the savings, without which the reform would be meaningless.
And I think the other things such as increased productivity / consumer confidence, 'potential stem cell effect', 'decreased mental stress', and 'massive job creation', 'stock price effect' and etc considered, the reform might be within reach. Most importantly, a few years later, if the excessive war and military spending goes toward the health care program, the cost issue does not matter at all, I think.
Edward M. Kennedy argues, the perfect should not be the enemy of the good, "Everyone won't be satisfied and no one will get everything they want. But we need to come together, just as we've done in other great struggles in World War II and the Cold War, in passing the great civil-rights laws of the 1960s, and in daring to send a man to the moon. If we don't get every provision right, we can adjust and improve the program next year or in the years to come. What we can't afford is to wait another generation."
Thank You For Reading !
Due to the cost
How can anybody expect vibrant economic activity / JOB CREATION ( faulted by the non-alternative naysayers to distract a series of scandals ) and housing boom in the context one in two Americans say someone in their family skipped pills, postponed or cut back on needed medical care due to the cost ?
Thank You !
Marie's health care
Obviously Marie's health care plan did not include basic English education. It's hard to repeat Rush Limbaugh's talking points Marie when you can't spell or put a sentence together.
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