To kick off the bipartisan health reform meeting, President Obama lays out the plan for the day and his hopes for what can be accomplished. He talks about where we’re at now and why this meeting is so necessary: President Obama explains, “Politics, I think, ended up trumping practical common sense. I said at the [...]
In response to Republican Senator Lamar Alexander’s contention that premiums will go up under reform, the President cites the Congressional Budget Offices report that his proposal will lower costs for individuals by between 14 and 20%. President Obama cites some of the Republican ideas he’s included in his proposal and makes it clear that he [...]
In a discussion of insurance market reforms, President Obama asks Republican Senator John Kyl to move away from talking points and focus on finding common areas of agreement. The President responds to Kyl: “Any time the question is phrased as ‘Does Washington know better?’ I think we’re kind of tipping the scales a little bit [...]
President Obama responds to Republican Representative Eric Cantor, explaining that health reform would lead to more choices and better plans: “The eight to nine million people that you refer that might change their coverage… would be folks that the Congressional Budget Office estimates would find the deal in the exchange better. Yes, they would change [...]
Senator Tom Harkin reminded those at the meeting that while it’s easy to get caught up in the debate over numbers and policy details, it’s ultimately about making progress to help ordinary folks across the country struggling under today’s broken system. Senator Harkin said, “I keep thinking we have got to bring it back home [...]
President Obama discusses some of the short-comings of the Republican plan to use high-risk pools to cover people with pre-existing conditions. “We looked at the Boehner bill to see how you approached that, but given the amount of money that you have allocated for that pool, its just not going to be a very useful [...]
Senator Dick Durbin asks Republicans who oppose health reform to give up the health plans they and their families receive from the federal government as members of Congress: “The federal employees health benefit program that we enjoy as individuals and want for our families is all we are asking for in this bill for families [...]
Rep. Javier Becerra challenges Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s statement that he doesn’t trust the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate that the health reform bills will reduce the deficit. Becerra: “Now, we can all agree to disagree…but if there is no referee on the field, we can never agree how the game should be played. So [...]
President Obama responds to Republican Senator John Barrasso’s argument that high-deductible plans and health savings accounts would be enough, explaining that neither are as effective for families below the highest income levels: “The vast majority of these 30 million people we’re talking about, they work every day. Some of them work two jobs. But if [...]
President Obama closes the bipartisan health reform meeting by summing up the day’s progress and laying out the next steps: “If we saw movement, significant movement, not just gestures, then you wouldn’t need to start over [on health reform] because essentially everybody here knows what the issues are. And procedurally, it could get done fairly [...]
