Today’s health care summit at the White House was unique for what it wasn’t – it wasn’t a closed-door, back-room meeting between wheelers and dealers plotting out what Americans are going to get when it comes to their health care. It was an inclusive, open-door exchange of ideas where folks from across the health spectrum – doctors to insurance companies to politicians to patients – got a chance to talk about what they hope our health care system will become.

And it appeared from President Obama’s comments at the end of the session that no one is looking at health care reform through rose-colored glasses. The President said the challenges will be tough, and that he is prepared to deal with it in the long-term as he looks at a combination of cost-cutting, and new revenue sources by reducing certain tax deductions, to get Americans more affordable choices in health coverage.

“Every single family is paying an extra $900 in premiums to pay for people in ER rooms (who don’t have coverage). We’re all paying for it (health care), but it’s hidden,” Obama said. “What we constantly have to think about is short term costs versus even higher long term costs. What I’m trying to do in this debate is make sure we’re not focused on just year one or two, but year ten, twenty and thirty…and to make sure our children aren’t bankrupted.”

In addition to being clear and direct about the economic challenges of improving health care, the President was even more direct about why it’s so important to do now.

“There has been some talk about the notion that maybe we’re taking on too much. That were in the midst of an economic crisis, and that the system is overloaded, and we should put this off for another day. Let’s just be clear, when times were good, we didn’t get it done. When we had mild recessions, we didn’t get it done. When we were at peace time, we didn’t get it done. There’s always a reason not to get it done.

“It strikes me now is the time to get it done. People are looking for solutions, businesses are looking for solutions….so those of you who are elected, what better time than now? Imagine the pride to go back to our constituencies that we finally got something done on health care. That’s worth fighting for, and I hope you all fight for it.”

The White House has launched a new Website on health care to keep Americans updated on the progress. And the President said next steps will include a report on the ideas generated from today’s session, and to work with Congress and all the groups to keep moving forward – inclusively.

“I want to make sure I don’t get in the way of moving aggressively and rapidly,” Obama said. “I’ve got some very strong ideas, the White House will be providing guidelines on what we can afford to do, and what we think we should do. But we don’t have a monopoly on ideas.”

And that willingness to listen – and to consider all views – is what gives this health reform movement a real chance.

comments (2)

I would like to hear if John Conyer's Bill HR 676 was given any time at this summit. It is controversial because it will remove insurance companies from our Health care system. It is a clearly laid out program and has a much greater chance of succeeding. I am afraid that if we have to carry the insurance companies those costs alone will cause any Universal Health Care reform to fail.

The only problem with the White House Forum and the recent Senate hearing was that single payer advocates were either not represented at all (the Senate hearing) or in a very limited way (White House forum). The only proposal that will result in everyone having comprehensive health care is single payer. John Conyer's HR 676 and the proposal of Physicians for a National Health Care Plan: http://www.pnhp.org/ are the way to go. As sparkie points out the only sure way to make this work is to cut out the middleman (i.e., the insurance companies) which serve no useful purpose other than to reap huge profits. In order to reap these profits they have to take in more than they pay out. The way that they do this is by denying claims and by eliminating those who would pose a greater risk, in other words people who are sick. The so-called health insurance companies are nothing more than a gigantic scam. In the US we pay more for our health care than anywhere in the world yet we have worse health outcomes than other wealthy nations and even some third world countries. With the middleman eliminated there is more than enough money for everyone in the US to receive comprehensive health care (including prescriptions, dental, vision, etc.). The most we would need to pay is a small payroll tax that would be less than many are now paying for health insurance premiums (on policies that often will not pay when the subscriber becomes ill). Plus, we could have the choice of any health care provider or hospital or health care facility. What is President Obama and the US Senate afraid of? Now is the time to advocate for single payer health care! Tell your family and friends, contact your senators and congressional representatives and write the letters to the editor of your local newspapers.

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