It’s been very easy to dismiss the entire health care debate as empty rhetoric, mischaracterizations and political posturing. But, as some summit attendees just pointed out, there are actually ideological differences between what Republicans and Democrats want for health care reform.
A conversation at the summit about the exchange, …
Here’s what happened:
The President was explaining that the Congressional Budget Office predicts premiums in the individual and small group market will go down under the Senate bill. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander interrupted the President to say this isn’t true. The President explained how it actually is true and how Alexander was …
President Obama’s opening statement at the health care summit focused on four major things:
The economy and deficits and how the unsustainable health care system is a drag on both.
Real life stories from people who write the President letters about their problems with insurance companies. The President also talked about …
The health care summit room at Blair House is starting to fill up. Tune in to CSPAN-3 or cspan.org to watch today. Karen and I will be watching and blogging for the next six hours.
Can you feel the excitement in the air? Cable news can. There was a flurry of health care-related news today, most of it summit specific.
For starters, this morning, the White House specifically invited Olympia Snowe to the event. (She is the only Senate Republican to have cast a vote in favor of health reform in 2009 – for the Senate …
This round of jockeying seems to have concluded – we now know who’s scheduled to appear at tomorrow’s health care meeting. House Minority Leader John Boehner just announced the Republican members he’ll be bringing. For those of you keeping track, here’s the full list of who’s expected to attend:
According to Politico’s Glenn Thrush, Republicans haven’t finish their RSVPs to tomorrow’s health care meeting because they were hoping President Obama would open the forum to governors.
Public option supporters inside and outside the Senate are still pushing Harry Reid to bring back the idea and pass it via reconciliation, Jay Rockefeller’s hesitance notwithstanding. My guess is Rockefeller’s opposition to this plan is based on concern that the public option could completely blowup the renewed push for Democratic health …
The policy wonks over at the Kaiser Family Foundation have been built the world’s best tool for comparing the various iterations of health care reform. Aptly called the “Side-by-Side Comparison of Major Health Care Reform Proposals,” it contains reliable, plain language interpretations of the House and Senate bills, plus the committee …
The public option appears destined to die another death. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, perhaps its most consistent and passionate champion, doesn’t support its resurgence. Per the Huffington Post, here’s what Rockefeller had to say about passing a public option via reconciliation:
House Minority Leader John Boehner wasted no time in attempting to reframe the White House health care plan unveiled this morning. In a statement, Boehner called the plan “the same massive government takeover of health care based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected.” He said the upcoming Feb. 25 health care …
After a year of watching Congress wrangle, deal, twist and tussle over comprehensive health care reform, the Obama Administration finally released its own blueprint today. The release comes three days before a bipartisan summit on the issue that the White House is hoping will be a game changer.
The White House “plan” contains many …
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has told Greg Sargent that “if a decision is made to use reconciliation to advance health care,” he’s open to bringing back the public option. That was fast.
