President Obama Opens the Health Reform Meeting
President Obama lays out the plan for the day and his hopes for what can be accomplished. He talks about where we’re at now and why this meeting is so necessary: "Politics, I think, ended up trumping practical common sense. I said at the State of the Union, and I’ll repeat — I didn’t take this on because I thought it was good politics. This is such a complicated issue that it’s inevitably going to be contentious. But what I’m hoping to accomplish today is for everybody to focus not just on where we differ, but focus on where we agree."
"You are entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts"
In response to Republican Senator Lamar Alexander’s contention that premiums will go up under reform, the President cites the Congressional Budget Offices report that his proposal will actually lower costs for individuals. President Obama also cites some of the Republican ideas he’s included in his proposal and makes it clear that he welcomes additional ideas to contain costs.
"It’s a good talking point, but it doesn’t actually answer the underlying question"
In a discussion of insurance market reforms, President Obama asks Republican Senator John Kyl to move away from talking points and focus on finding common areas of agreement. The President responds to Kyl: "Any time the question is phrased as ‘Does Washington know better?’ I think we’re kind of tipping the scales a little bit there — since we all know that everybody is angry at Washington right now it’s a good talking point, but it doesn’t actually answer the underlying question, which is, ‘Do we want to make sure that people have a baseline of protection?’"
"More choice and competition"
President Obama responds to Republican Representative Eric Cantor, explaining that health reform would lead to more choices and better plans: "The eight to nine million people that you refer that might change their coverage… would be folks that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would find the deal in the exchange better. Yes, they would change cover
age, because they’ve got more choice and competition."
"American families will drown if we try an incremental approach"
Senator Tom Harkin reminds those at the meeting that while it’s easy to get caught up in the debate over numbers and policy details, it’s ultimately about making progress to help ordinary folks across the country struggling under today’s broken system: "I keep thinking we have got to bring it back home to what this is all about. We all have our stories. I got a letter yesterday from a farmer in Iowa that really encapsulates it. [He said] ‘I’m a 57-year-old Iowa farmer. I’m writing to voice my concern regarding my family’s rapidly escalating health care costs. On Saturday, February 20th, I received a notice informing me that our health insurance premium will be increasing $193.90 per month to a monthly total of $1,516.20. This is a 14.6% increase.’"
"None of us know who’s going to end up being healthy and who’s not"
President Obama discusses some of the short-comings of the Republican proposal to use high-risk pools to cover people with pre-existing conditions. "We looked at the Boehner bill to see how you approached that, but given the amount of money that you have allocated for that pool, its just not going to be a very useful tool for the vast majority of people who’ve got pre-existing conditions. It’s just not enough money that you put into it to cover all the people with pre-existing conditions."
“If you think it’s a socialist plot, give up your federal health care”
Senator Dick Durbin asks Republicans who oppose health reform to give up the health plans they and their families receive from the federal government as members of Congress: "The federal employees health benefit program that we enjoy as individuals and want for our families is all we are asking for in this bill for families across America. If you think it is a socialist plot and it’s wrong, for goodness sakes, drop out of the federal employees health benefit program. But if you think it is good enough for your family, shouldn’t our health insurance be good enough for the rest of America?"
“These bills reduce the deficit”
Rep. Xavier Becerra challenges Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s statement that he doesn’t trust the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate that the health reform bills will reduce the deficit. Becerra: "Now, we can all agree to disagree…but if there is no referee on the field, we can never agree how the game should be played. So I think we have to decide, do we believe in the Congressional Budget Office or not? Paul, you and I have sat on the Budget Committee for years together and on any number of occasions in those years you have cited the CBO to make your point, referred to their projections to make your points, and today you essentially said you can’t trust the CBO."
“We shouldn’t pretend that these folks don’t need help”
President Obama responds to Republican Senator John Barrasso’s argument that high-deductible plans and health savings accounts would be enough, explaining that neither are as effective for families below the highest income levels: "The vast majority of these 30 million people we’re talking about, they work every day. Some of them work two jobs. But if they’re working for a small business, they can’t get health care. If they are self-employed, they don’t get health care. It is a scary proposition for them. We can debate whether or not we can afford to help them, but we shouldn’t pretend somehow that they don’t need help. I get too many letters saying they need help."
President Obama’s Closing: “People don’t want us to wait”
President Obama closes the bipartisan health reform meeting by summing up the day’s progress and laying out the next steps: "If we saw movement, significant movement, not just gestures, then you wouldn’t need to start over [on health reform] because essentially everybody here knows what the issues are. And procedurally, it could get done fairly quickly. We cannot have another year-long debate about this. The question that I’m going to ask of myself and all of you is this: Is there enough serious effort that in a month’s time, or few weeks’ time or six weeks time, we could actually resolve something?"