No one in the room at the health care summit has worked longer on the issue than John Dingell, the senior member of the House. Indeed, for him, this cause has been a family legacy. I checked in with him at the lunch break by email, and here’s what he thought of the morning:
We had a very spirited discussion this morning. One thing has become abundantly clear: there is much agreement on what the problem is, and there is even agreement on how we address that problem. When you cut through the rhetoric, it is very clear that the President’s proposal includes 10 ideas my Republican colleagues raised.
I’m sorry to see the Republicans try to blur the issue when it comes to premiums, especially because the CBO made it quite clear that the bill would reduce premium costs.
I look forward to returning and to our discussion and, more importantly, acting on behalf of the American people to ensure we fix our broken health care system. I hope the second half of the discussion we can get down to the business of finding common ground.