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February 7, 2010
The Big Healthcare Show
I think I'm getting a clearer picture on what the president has in mind for healthcare. I believe the Democrats are pursuing two tracks.
1) They're preparing a strategy to pass the current Senate bill in the House, then concurrently passing fixes via reconciliation. This, I think, is the failsafe mechanism for passing reform. More on this presently.
2) Today, the president announced a bipartisan, bicameral half-day healthcare summit to be held on television (C-SPAN probably) during which he'll make a very public attempt to talk things over with Republicans and Democrats alike. I presume the point of this isn't necessarily to start a new bill from scratch, but to kill some of the GOP's biggest lies while keeping Democrats enthused and on board with passing reform in an election year.
“I want to come back [after the Presidents Day congressional recess] and have a large meeting — Republicans and Democrats — to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward,” Obama said in an interview with Katie Couric during CBS’s Super Bowl pre-game show Sunday.Obama said he wants to “look at the Republican ideas that are out there.”
“If we can go, step by step, through a series of these issues and arrive at some agreements, then, procedurally, there’s no reason why we can’t do it a lot faster the process took last year,” he said.
In a statement, the official said, “What the president will not do is let this moment slip away. He hopes to have Republican support in doing so — but he is going to move forward on health reform.”
Yeah, on the surface, it sounds scary and irritating. More attempts to seem bipartisan -- to listen to the Republicans and attempt to incorporate their ridiculous ideas. But realistically, there's no way they can start from scratch. And there's no way the Republicans will seriously help to give the president a huge political victory.
Plus, let's say they actually start over again with a bipartisan bill that gives insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, accomplishes tort reform and allows insurance companies to sell across state lines. The House won't vote for this. Hell, they'll barely vote for the current Senate bill with hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies for working class Americans. This plan would fail.
I think the president is smart enough to know this. So I think he intends to make an attempt to publicly appeal to the Republicans knowing that an actual bipartisan bill will never pass. And as soon as this self-evident fact is laid bare in practice, Congress will pass the existing legislation. Hence the reason for Reid and Pelosi continuing to hash out a plan for reconciliation.
At least, this is how I see it at this point. Not passing a bill isn't an option. And a bill with Republican votes will never happen in a million years.
My hope at this point is that this game plays out quickly. The president has told us repeatedly that we're racing towards a cliff "just like Thelma & Louise." Such a dire warning doesn't lend itself to waiting many more months trying in futility to appease Republicans.
So get on with it.
Filed under: Bipartisanship || Healthcare || President Obama
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Posted By Bob Cesca | February 7, 2010 7:05 PM
Comments
Given Obama's actions in the past couple of weeks it looks like he's pulling a "rope-a-dope". Stop and think about this. He kicked ass at that recent Q & A with the Repubs! He's gettin' his game-face on!
Brennan today basically called the Repubs liars regarding the underpants bomber BS. The Repubs have been painting themselves into a corner and Obama knows it.
Sarah is talking revolution, and she was just in Salina, Kansas (75 miles from where I live) and our likely next US Senator Jerry Moran said this, "Everyday folks love you because you are one of us, and you tell it straight."
Really Mr. Moron?????????????
Link so no douche can challenge me:
http://cjonline.com/news/legislature/2010-02-05/palin_electrifies_salina_crowd
I was going to try and post what he said in the loacl papers but it's not possible. They've erased the content.
It was packed with lies!
Posted by: kansasdem ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 7, 2010 10:04 PM
Found it! Towards the bottom:
http://www.hillsborofreepress.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=18091553:letters-feb-3-2010&catid=25&Itemid=44
Help me call bull shit on this:
Since the beginning of the health-care reform debate, I have argued that to achieve true reform, health care costs must be reduced. The failure of legislation now pending in Congress to reduce costs means that these reform proposals would fail.
There is overwhelming, credible evidence of the bills’ failure to reduce health-care costs. Why does this fact continue to be ignored by President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress? Two recent reports are particularly important to consider.
First, the chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the agency that administers Medicare, reports that the Senate health-care plan would increase national health spending by $222 billion over the next 10 years.
In addition, CMS could not substantiate Democrats’ claim that the Senate bill would reduce costs by cutting waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare.
Another study, this one completed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, found that premiums in the individual insurance market would increase up to $2,100 per year for families under the Senate bill.
To ignore these and other studies is irresponsible. President Obama promised to cut Americans’ health insurance premiums. Yet, multiple analyses show that health costs would continue to rise under the current plans and that any deficit reduction claims are achieved only through budget gimmicks.
President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid must not ignore the evidence. Doing so will have drastic consequences for families and small businesses in Kansas, as well as the financial future of our country.
Rep. Jerry Moran
Washington, D.C.
Posted by: kansasdem at February 7, 2010 11:54 PM
