Obama Gives Hill Dems Glimpse Of White House Health Care Strategy

Funny, because I didn't hear Obama outlining a new initiative. I heard him saying "these are the strengths of the existing bill."

So he's so uninvolved they're reduced to combing his speeches for hints of where he stands? Good lord.

This report prompts two thoughts from me. First, I agree with Alex39 that this sounds an awful lot like an endorsement of the current bills -- he certainly hit on the key elements of the Senate bill. However, why on earth are House Democrats having to parse his public statements to get an idea of where he stands on this issue? There is simply no excuse for the White House being so unengaged in the process that the House has to guess what his priorities are. The lack of leadership from the President on this issue over the last week or so has been very disappointing.

As someone with a lot of devotion to and trust in the Obama Administration, the loss in MA was a real shock. I'd always believed in part that Obama's strategy was consistently sound, even when things sometimes looked rocky. But now that trust is hard to justify, considering that looking back on the last year, its hard to imagine things going that much worse.

I think Obama has made a large mistake in not being a more proactive leader on healthcare. The initial strategy of prodding but trusting congress on the way to passage was done fairly well, but I think the first huge mistake was this: As soon as the Senate passed the bill, he should have been out campaigning for it. This legislation is monumental, it is a cornerstone of his presidency. And after a year of debate, we had a good bill. But people did not understand it. How could they, they have never been told what it is. There has been no concerted public information campaign to sell the legislation, and as soon as we had 99% of a bill passed, that was his chance to sell it.

Polls have shown the population slightly against the bill, but only if you count criticism from the left as against. They've also shown that largely people don't understand it. This is totally predictable--its complex and has been rapidly changing. With education, I think popularity now could reach over 60% (add in the left-critics and then win just some undecideds).

As soon as MA was looking bad, Obama should have started campaigning not just for Coakley, but for health care. Imagine a speech about the virtues of the bill, delivered from the home of Ted Kennedy, to all of America, followed by a interviews on all stations. Now, with everything in disarray, the need for his leadership is even greater. This is a good bill and it can still be passed (i.e. simultaneous reconciliation by Senate and passage of Senate bill by House). It is impossible to know for sure that if he leads Congress towards passage, it will result in a popular bill being passed. But it definitely could--and passage of such historic legislation would give momentum and force back to the Dems. Alternately, one thing is very sure: if the bill fails, it severely hurts all Dems. Voters who didn't like the bill will still dislike their congresspeople--no voter will be convinced to like someone who voted for a bill the voter disagreed with just because it failed. And as a whole, failure will be fatal to the Dem's image. Nothing looks worse than failure. Passing small bills could work, but it could also end up creating a mire that lasts for months with no real conclusion and nothing to make Dem's look truly successful.

I'm not sure what is preventing this strategy. Fear of getting behind a bill that might be unpopular? That is incredibly tepid. And as I argued, of course the bill is unpopular, Obama never fought for it with the public. I don't think a President can expect to pass such monumental legislation without getting in the ring to back it up.

when the long health care reform debate began, the following were the pillars of any reform president obama insisted upon; he needs to send this to all dem legislators and say, "this is my bottom line!"

More Security and Stability
If You Have Health Insurance, the Obama Plan:

* Ends discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.
* Limits premium discrimination based on gender and age.
* Prevents insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it most.
* Caps out-of-pocket expenses so people don’t go broke when they get sick.
* Eliminates extra charges for preventive care like mammograms, flu shots and diabetes tests to improve health and save money.
* Protects Medicare for seniors.
* Eliminates the “donut-hole” gap in coverage for prescription drugs.

Quality, Affordable Choices
If You Don’t Have Insurance, the Obama Plan:

* Creates a new insurance marketplace — the Exchange — that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices.
* Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance.
* Provides small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees.
* Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
* Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national “high risk” pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created.

Reins in the Cost of Health Care
For All Americans, the Obama Plan:

* Won’t add a dime to the deficit and is paid for upfront.
* Requires additional cuts if savings are not realized.
* Implements a number of delivery system reforms that begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality.
* Creates an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system.
* Orders immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, not on practicing defensive medicine.
* Requires large employers to cover their employees and individuals who can afford it to buy insurance so everyone shares in the responsibility of reform.

I guess he forgot the idea of letting people get the same health coverage that members of Congress have? Leaving it up to Congress was the President's second mistake...the first mistake was taking single-payer off the table and saying "No!" to HR 676!!

Doesn't the fact that commentators here don't agree on 'what Obama is saying' mean that he is not saying it very well.
It's not that there isn't a clear path forward -- supported Hacker, Krugman, and HCAN -- Pass the Senate bill in the House and fix it with reconcilliation. People will die otherwise.

Yeah, smaller & smaller, and...gone.