“THE UNITED States Congress owes the American people a final vote on healthcare reform,” President Barack Obama said to loud and long applause in the east room of the White House yesterday when he laid out his roadmap for Congress to enact the reform before the Easter recess begins on March 26th.
Mr Obama’s 20-minute speech was his most concise and convincing exposé of the issue to date. Flanked by doctors and nurses in white coats, he reminded his audience that healthcare has been debated for a whole year now. It was time to “bring this journey to a close”.
Mr Obama said, “Every idea has been put on the table. Every argument has been made. Everything there is to say about healthcare has been said and just about everyone has said it.”
The audience of journalists and government officials laughed.
Rarely has so much of a US presidency been staked on a single issue. Yesterday’s speech was the final push by Mr Obama, but it is far from certain that Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be able to muster the majority needed to pass the Senate’s Bill in the House.
Not one Republican was swayed by the letter Mr Obama addressed to House and Senate leaders on Tuesday, offering to incorporate changes suggested by Republicans at last week’s healthcare summit, including grants on medical malpractice reform and fighting waste and fraud in the healthcare system.
Mr Obama said the Republicans’ proposed solution to the healthcare mess – loosening restrictions – “would only give the insurance industry even freer rein to raise premiums and deny care.”
By making the insurance companies accountable, Mr Obama promised his plan “would end the worst practices of insurance companies.” These include denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions, dropping clients who fall ill, gouging clients for unlimited amounts of money and charging arbitrary, massive increases in premiums.
By pooling themselves in exchanges, customers would achieve better rates and coverage. And the government would provide subsidies in the form of tax credits for the middle classes.
Mr Obama quoted the Congressional Budget Office saying his plan would reduce most people’s premiums and lower the deficit by $1 trillion over two decades.
Republican proposals would extend coverage to three million uninsured people, while Mr Obama’s plan would insure an additional 31 million Americans.
The president rejected arguments for an incremental approach, saying, “health reform only works if you take care of all these problems at once.” Nor was there any point in starting over, as the Republicans demand. “I do not see how another year of negotiations would help,” the president said. That could take another decade and “the American people, and the US economy, just can’t wait that long.” Mr Obama asked Congress to schedule a vote “in the next few weeks” using the so-called budget reconciliation procedure that is opposed by Republicans. “At stake,” he said, “is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.”
He didn’t know how the move would affect Democrats’ chances in the November mid-term elections, but it was the right thing to do. “Let’s get it done” were the president’s last words.