President Barack Obama listens to Senator Edward M. Kennedy speaking during the Health Care Summit second session. Thursday, March 5, 2008, in the East Room at the White House. Photo by Pete Souza.
"You have got to think this will be the Ted Kennedy Health Reform Act, because he's a beloved figure and he's championed the issue for so long...There are a lot of unknowns right now, but what we do know obviously is he is very close to Obama, and he also has quite a network of health policy experts that he can draw from."--John Rother, policy director for the AARP, Boston Globe, July 2, 2008
Listen up. This past week, The Prez (President Barack Obama) did something very important, something that will, one way or another, affect all of us: he began an organized discussion about how to reform healthcare. It was the first in a series of discussions that will occur in other states all across the country with doctors, patients, policy wonks and other folk.
These regional forums will take some time, but they are very necessary. First, they are needed to make sure Americans understand that The Prez is listening. Remember when First Lady tried to do universal healthcare in the 90's? Remember how she tried to manipulate it through congress with backroom deals without the American people knowing what was going on? Remember how Republicans dissed her, saying she wanted to drain the government treasury while developing another socialist government program? Remember what a failure it was? Well, by meeting with Americans from different parts of the country and making it all transparent, The Prez is demonstrating that he has learned from the First Lady Clinton's experience.
He is also demonstrating that, after all these years, he has not forgotten how to organize. As organizers well know, you don't make decisions ahead of people. Instead, you let people have their say, have their day. Then you pull them back together to move forward: to formulate recommendations or solutions and to fight to implement them.
The second reason it should take some time is that The Prez needs to let the American people hear just how complicated healthcare is in this country. It involves a convergence of many players: Patients, doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, HMOs, unions, etc. It involves a delicate balancing act of providing information more efficiently and effectively to doctors while, at the same time, protecting the patient's privacy. And, just as importantly, healthcare is deeply woven into the crisis in the American economy. For example, several Ford and several big auto companies have already begun pulling out of America and setting up shops in Canada, where they don't have to pay their workers healthcare coverage. This means a significant drop in the cost they have to pay workers to make each new vehicle. So The Prez is making Americans gain a greater understanding of the relationship between healthcare and business: how getting a handle on healthcare can help the government to get a handle on the economy as well. In opening up the forum, he stated:
"Health care reform is a fiscal imperative.Skyrocketing health care costs are draining our federal budget, undermining our long-term economic prosperity and devastating American families."
The main idea of these forums, says The Prez, is to "...bring together diverse groups of people all over the country who have a stake in reforming our health care system and ask them to put forward their best ideas about how we bring down costs and expand coverage for American families."
By putting into the budget a 634 billion downpayment on healthcare and holding transparent, nation-wide discussions about it, The Prez is following through on his campaign promise to reform healthcare, to move it more closely to universal healthcare.
The regional forums will be in California, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Vermont over the coming weeks.
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6 comments:
Hey MacDaddy. Hope all is well. I've probably mentioned it before, but I've worked in health care for my entire career (both on the non-profit and for profit sides). I totally agree that there's a delicate balance, each stakeholder has their own interests/concerns and being scrutinized is never easy or fun. One thing I know won't work (and one of the reasons Hillary's efforts fell flat) is a single payer system. The government (HHS) isn't set up to handle that kind of responsibility nor are insurers. I think Prez O's townhall approach will be effective in highlighting all of the important issues to consider.
I applaud the stimulus funding granted to the community health centers who are often overlooked as a major safety net for the un- and underinsured. It'll be a long, hard road but I think a multi-dimensional approach is the way to go. Great post!
CurvyGurl: Well said. I just wanted to note that the Obama's funding of community health centers was mentioned as an example by Republican senators as "wasteful spending." Then they followed that up with a Republican-only meeting and came out of it saying that Obama needs to implement a "spending freeze," something Hoover tried and failed at back in the day. They just don't want the government to spend any money to help working and poor people-- not even on their health.
Keep us updated. I used to comment on your blog a lot. I miss that.
I agree with CurvyGirl Hillary wanted the government to run the program and the states would have no say. In Canada each province controls their own healthcare program monitored by the government. Some provinces charge citizens extra for certain services. Private doctors are allowed. Dental, medicine, eye care, etc., outside of hospital care is paid for seperately by the individual. But medicine is cheap in Canada because it is subsidized by the government. Some provinces charge an extra medical fee yearly on income tax which is extra. Most here in the US believe Canada is covered for everything which is not true. So depending on who runs the program and what our program will include is going to be quite expensive.
I still contend that past [health care bills], the present stimulus package and future ones will remove service to the elderly over time. Without restrictions many will run to the doctors and hospitals for free service and overextend the system until it collapses.
I don't have a problem with socialized medicine. I have a problem with who is going to pay for it shortly when we don't have enough taxes for the program. The average to poor senior American can not afford more tax. Look around your city, more and more people are being driven to the street because they couldn't afford the tax on their house, electric, gas, water, food, sewage, run off fees, telephone taxes, etc., etc.
Wasteful spending my Aunt Fanny, as Mother used to say. It is an extreme cost SAVINGS. Why can't these folks realize it?
Where in NC is the meeting? I'm afraid that Appalachia will get left out once again. I should be used to it by now.
actually, Curvy Girl, I know that Hillary did a good bit of research on the topic. She visited the Health Right clinic in the town where I was living at the time to use it as a model. That place was a lifesaver in all senses of the word.
Mountain: I'll find out where the healthcare forum is in North Carolina and get back to you in this same segment...
I remember how confident, committed and knowledgeable the then First Lady Clinton wasabout healthcare even back then. But, coming after Reagan and his big government is the enemy nonsense, congress was in no mood for universal healthcare anyway, especially with it being steered through congress by a non-elected woman. So only part of this is about Clinton. The other part is that congress wasn't ready for it.
Mountain: I can't find where The Prez is speaking in North Carolina. But I'm sure they're going to say where in the next few days. They usually makes these kinds of announcements on his blog, which is http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/
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