Obama Goes All In for Health Reform Passage

If anyone doubted the willingness of the White House to stick its neck out for health care reform this year, President Obama likely put those questions to rest this afternoon. Speaking at the White House to promote his newly tweaked reform proposal, the president rejected the Republicans’ “tinker around the edges” approach, instead calling on lawmakers to hold a vote on comprehensive reform “in the next few weeks.”

“Congress owes the American people a final vote on health care reform,” Obama said, vowing, “I will do everything in my power to make the case for reform.”

Other highlights:

• A Call for Reconciliation: Pointing to past legislation that has been enacted using the budget reconciliation approach — including the sweeping Bush tax cuts — Obama argued that health care reform “deserves the same kind of up or down vote.”
• Rejection of Single Payer Health Care: Supporters of a Medicare-for-all-style system of reform have complained that such a proposal has rarely been mentioned throughout the debate. They can’t make that claim anymore, though neither will they like the attention Obama gave single-payer Wednesday. “In America,” the president said, “it would be neither practical nor realistic.”
• Comprehensive vs. Piecemeal Reform: Republicans, behind Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), have argued that “Congress doesn’t do comprehensive well.” They’ve been pushing for Democrats to scrap their comprehensive proposal in favor of smaller, more incremental reform steps — a strategy that Obama rejected outright. “The insurance reforms rest on everybody having access to coverage,” he said. “Health reform only works if you take care of all of these problems at once.”
• Funding: Covering 30+ million uninsured folks will cost money, Obama conceded. But the additional costs — which he estimates to be $100 billion per year — can largely be covered using funds the country already spends on health care (roughly $2.3 trillion annually). “The bottom line is [that] our proposal is paid for,” he said.
• The Enthusiasm Factor: Liberals have been all over Obama for what many viewed as a tepid approach to health reform in the last year. He let Congress draft the bills, they say, and he hasn’t nearly used the bully pulpit to sell his message that health reform is not just a moral concern but an economic necessity. His actions in recent weeks indicate that he’s ready to get more aggressive. And his promise to do “everything in my power” to pass reform this year is sure to light a fire under at least some moderate Democrats who have been wary that they’ve been left dangling in the wind.

“I do not know how this plays out politically, but I know that it’s right,” Obama concluded. “Let’s get it done.”

Waiting now for the GOP attacks.