Health Care

CHART OF THE DAY: Repealing ObamaCare Would Be Disastrous For The Budget

Brian Beutler | October 24, 2011, 2:37PM

President Barack Obama

The Government Accountability Office has updated its fiscal outlook for the U.S. government and come to some familiar conclusions. The country has a long term imbalance that will have to be addressed, but not until today's economic woes have passed. If Congress simply does nothing -- and allows the Bush tax cuts, and other temporary laws to expire -- the country's fiscal health will improve significantly over the long term.

But the report implies something that's been lost in the recent partisan debate over the country's future: repealing ObamaCare would consign us to swift, ugly fiscal and health care crises.

The health care reform law will extend subsidized private health insurance to millions of Americans, paid for with new taxes and Medicare savings. But it also included numerous demonstration projects and reforms intended to rein in the growth of health care costs, and thus Medicare spending. Some of them have great promise -- if they can survive.

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Health Care

GOP To Obama: Nah, Our Ideas Don't Make It A Better Health Care Plan

Christina Bellantoni | March 3, 2010, 9:15AM

President Obama speaks at a bipartisan White House gathering with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) in the background.

President Obama today will offer his final stamp of approval on a compromise health care reform measure that Democrats hope can pass Congress in the coming month. Obama yesterday offered an olive branch to Republicans by telling congressional leaders he will include four GOP ideas in his plan.

But Republicans immediately dismissed the ideas and issued scolding statements saying Obama should scrap a year's worth of work on health care and start over.

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) was first, telling Obama that including his party's ideas was just "political cover." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the GOP was "disappointed with your latest proposal to simply paper a few of these commonsense proposals over an unsalvageable bill."

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Health Care

Obama's New Health Care Plan To Have Both Substance And Process

Christina Bellantoni | March 1, 2010, 5:59PM

Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

President Obama Wednesday will detail both the substance of his final health care reform legislation proposal and the process for getting it through Congress once and for all.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters during his daily briefing today that Obama will offer the pathway to final passage by outlining the "next steps." But Gibbs also dodged questions on specifics or how the president would help Speaker Nancy Pelosi or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid secure enough votes in their chambers.

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Health Care

Not Budging: After Summit, Pelosi Says Health Care Is In Senate's Court

Brian Beutler | February 26, 2010, 12:17PM

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)

For all the happy talk, it looks like yesterday's health care summit didn't entirely end disagreements between House and Senate Democrats over how to finish up health care reform.

"It's up to them," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at her weekly press conference today, referring to the Senate.

Pelosi wants the answer to a few questions before she can proceed. "One, what is the substance. Secondly, what is the Senate able to do with a simple majority. And then we will act on that," she said.

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Health Care

White House Gives Congress Green Light To Finish Health Care

Christina Bellantoni | February 26, 2010, 10:38AM

President Obama's bipartisan health care summit.

The White House has given Congressional leaders the all-clear to move ahead on health care reform, with both the House and Senate aiming to pass final legislation by April.

A top aide to House Democratic leadership told TPMDC this morning that tension remains between the House and Senate as members in the lower chamber remain wary the Senate might not honor a promise to fix their bill through reconciliation.

But the aide said the House is deciding whether to vote on the Christmas Eve-passed Senate bill first or the reconciliation measure including budget-related fixes to that Senate bill, namely changes to the tax on high-end insurance plans. But whether the House Democratic caucus will be able to keep its shaky voting coalition together remains an open question, Hill sources tell TPMDC.

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Jay Rockefeller

Crossing His Fingers: Rockefeller Hopes Summit Renewed Trust Between House And Senate Dems

Brian Beutler | February 26, 2010, 9:00AM

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV)

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), a participant in yesterday's health care summit, and a long-time advocate of reform, believes the Republicans' stubborn performance was enough to unite feuding House Democrats and Senate Democrats. The two camps are suffering from a crisis of trust after a contentious year--a schism that will have to be bridged if health care is to pass.

Last night, after a late vote, I caught Rockefeller in the hallway just off the Senate floor and asked him how Democrats plan to come together in the wake of the summit. "Well, to be honest with you, I think today as we all sat and watched what unfolded, I think that there was a feeling that there was more of a bonding between House and Senate Democrats and that the Republicans acted so irresponsibly, it was stunning actually," Rockefeller said.

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Health Care

Pelosi Reminds Boehner, Camp Who's Boss (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | February 25, 2010, 7:01PM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) wasn't the only member left speechless by a hard Democratic retort at today's health care summit. House Minority Leader John Boehner and Rep. David Camp (R-MI) were given a stiff rebuke by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for falsely characterizing the Democrats' health care reform proposals.

To Boehner, Pelosi set the record straight on the question of public funding of abortion. "The law of the land is there is no public funding of abortion, and there is no public funding of abortion in these bills and I don't want our listeners or viewers to get the wrong impression," she said.

And to Camp, she insisted his claims about the bills' proposed cuts to Medicare were false. "You said that the Medicare cuts in this bill cut benefits for seniors," Pelosi said. "They do not. They do not."

Watch:

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Health Care

McCain Attempts To Pin Obama Down On Reconciliation

Christina Bellantoni | February 25, 2010, 6:12PM

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) talking at the health-care summit

Sen. John McCain took the lead today challenging President Obama on health care reform - and this afternoon went after Obama's past opposition to the majority party using the so-called "nuclear option" on passing judges through the Senate.

McCain (R-AZ) said his party wants to "start over" but then turned to the process.

"I understand the frustration the majority feels when they can't get their agenda through," McCain said. He said "never" has reconciliation been used for "an issue of this magnitude."

"I think it could harm the future of our country," he said.

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Health Care

Charge! With Bipartisan Hurdle Cleared Democrats Will Finish Off Health Care (VIDEO)

Christina Bellantoni | February 25, 2010, 4:52PM

Vice President Biden, President Obama, Secretary of Health and Home Affairs Sebelius, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

President Obama challenged Republicans to do some "soul searching" on whether they will support the Democratic health care plan, using the final moments of his health care summit to ask them to put up or shut up. If they don't want to cooperate, the two parties can battle it out at the polls this November, the president said.

Obama's statement and Democratic reactions after the summit were the clearest signal yet that the majority party is charging ahead and abandoning attempts at bipartisanship.

Interest groups closely watching the summit said as much, and Republicans confirmed they won't be voting for any Democratic plan that doesn't start with a blank sheet of paper.

The attendees at the summit read statements about the need for reform and complained about process, but came to no agreement and spoke little about the substance of the bill up for consideration on Capitol Hill. The seven-hour marathon refereed by Obama gives Democrats political cover to press ahead and finish this up.

"We are going to move forward, the ball is in everybody's court," Speaker Nancy Pelosi told reporters after the summit.

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Health Care Summit

Obama Takes Dr. Barrasso To Medical School (VIDEO)

Brian Beutler | February 25, 2010, 4:28PM

President Barack Obama

It could become an iconic moment in a six-hour health care summit that was at times a sleepy affair: President Obama debating Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)--a medical doctor--on whether guaranteeing catastrophic coverage is a sufficient answer to the country's health care woes.

"Would you be satisfied if every member of Congress just had catastrophic care--you think we'd be better health care purchasers?" Obama asked Barrasso. "I mean, is that a change you think we should make?"

"I think actually we would," Barrasso responded. "We'd really focus on it. We'd have more, as you say, skin in the game. And especially if they had a savings account--a health savings account--they could put their money into that, and they'd be spending the money out of that."

Obama's retort left Barrasso speechless:

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Health Care

Durbin: Dems Will Press Forward After Summit With Or Without GOP

Christina Bellantoni | February 25, 2010, 3:31PM

Majority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Sen. Dick Durbin admitted today many of the speeches from his colleagues at the health care summit were old hat, and said that regardless of the outcome the Democratic leadership will forge ahead with passing legislation.

Durbin (D-IL) told reporters outside the White House that there were no surprises at the summit because "Working with these people for a long time, I could give some of their speeches and they could give mine."

Tomorrow, leaders will get together and plot a way forward but he wouldn't say if reconciliation would be the process used to pass the legislation.

"If nothing comes of this we're going to press forward. We just can't quit. This is a once in a political lifetime opportunity to deal with a health care system that is really unsustainable," Durbin said. "We will sit down in leadership and if we have some helpful Republicans, this could be an easy assignment. But if not, it could be a little harder."

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Barack Obama

Boehner Rips Health Care Plan In Statement Sent Mid-Summit

Brian Beutler | February 25, 2010, 2:42PM

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH)

Surprise! Health care bipartisan ain't going to happen. House Minority Leader John Boehner is a key participant in today's bipartisan health care summit, where a degree of decorum is required. But that isn't stopping him from ripping health care reform in other ways.

"No GOP Reforms Included in Democrats' Job-Killing Health Care Proposals" reads the headline of a GOP Leader Alert issued moments ago, as members of his own caucus sparred with President Obama over whether and how to allow health insurance to be sold across state lines.

"Despite the President's rhetoric, Democrats' job-killing health care proposals do not implement a single major GOP reform that would lower costs for families and small businesses," Boehner's statement reads.

Yes, Washington Democrats have recently begun incorporating into their rhetoric a few of the same words Republicans have long used. But when you dig beneath the newly-minted rhetoric and actually look at the text of their bills, it quickly becomes evident that they haven't actually incorporated any of the major health care reforms Republicans support.

Of course, even if these GOP reforms were incorporated, they would still be attached to legislation that includes job-killing tax hikes, deep cuts to Medicare, massive unfunded mandates on states, unconstitutional mandates on individuals, an "abortion premium" levied on American taxpayers, vast new powers for the federal bureaucracy, and other unacceptable provisions the American people reject.

I'm gonna go way out on a limb and guess that he won't change his mind in the next hour and a half. You can read the entire statement here.