Let the debate over healthcare begin. All I have to say is: Mr. President. Good luck. Can we all bow in prayer? “Dear Lord……”
Trying to get universal healthcare passed through Congress may be tougher than the Cubs winning the World Series. Are they both impossible?
We’re not in the details stage yet. Instead, you really want to know what this is about? The Obama administration has made pretty clear that all parties are going to take a hit: hospitals, doctors, insurers, wealthy Medicare patients, etc. The question is will these financial hits to these groups be minimal enough to keep the healthcare train rolling? Look, it’s going to cost a lot of money to get this thing done. That money has to come from somewhere. Team Obama is going to ask all of these groups to swallow hard with the thinking here that the pill won’t be too huge and these groups won’t choke.
We also don’t know at this point who is really going to write this bill. Obviously The White House has their main principles but will Harry and Louise (I’m sorry I mean Nancy) take charge? Will the White House include Republicans early in the process and in an honest way? Will the GOP just be window dressing? Lots of questions. Few answers right now. The last thing the Obama administration needs is for the narrative on this to get away from them. They need to control the parameters of the discussion if they are to be successful. Obama is going to need to take this thing out on the road and really sell it. It won’t be sold in DC. And speaking on selling the plan, keep your eye on Melody Barnes, the White House’s Domestic Policy Council Director. She is going to be a major player in the healthcare debate. She is smart, articulate and a great salesman for the plan. She’s a major asset in this process.
Read below from The Associated Press for more on the healthcare story and today’s healthcare summit at the White House.
President Barack Obama will on Thursday step up a perennial crusade that has thwarted previous presidents to make affordable healthcare available to all Americans.
Obama, who made healthcare reform a centerpiece of his 2008 election campaign, will hold a White House "summit" as the first step in a politically perilous plan.
More than half of all Americans are covered by health insurance provided by their employers, but it is not compulsory and nearly 46 million Americans have no coverage at all.
The White House event, with 120 lawmakers, officials and health experts, comes a week after Obama asked Congress in his budget for 634 billion dollars to fund healthcare reform over the next 10 years.
"This is the first, sort of the opening argument," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday.
"This is a first step in starting a process that the president believes is long overdue."
The president is scheduled to open the meeting with remarks before participants break out into several discussion forums.
The format is similar to a fiscal responsibility "summit" Obama held last week, in line with his stated attempt to reach across political divides to trim the gaping US budget deficit.
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