In an unprecedented move, President Obama held an all day televised summit on February 25 with Congressional leaders to discuss moving health reform forward. There was no clear winner at the summit-Democrat, Republican, or the American people.
- No consensus from President’s health reform summit
- Agreement on no discrimination on the basis of pre-existing conditions
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View the full six and a half hour health summitThe White House summit was an opportunity for both Democrats and Republicans to air their thoughts and opinions on moving health reform forward. Republicans maintained their messaging and unity that they want to scrap what has been accomplished so far in Congress and start over with health reform. Democrats maintained their message that health reform needs to be passed soon. There were items that both parties agreed on such as improving Medicare and prohibiting insurers from discriminating against people on the basis of pre-existing conditions-which would enable many people with disabilities and other chronic conditions to obtain affordable health insurance, but there was much disagreement on the approach to reform. There are major philosophical differences on how health reform should be paid for and the role of government in people’s health care.
Some political pundits feel like the summit was a “dog and pony” show. It could allow Democrats the opportunity to portray Republicans as obstructionists and justify using budget reconciliation to pass health reform. The Republicans could use the summit to say that Democrats are just trying to bully their way past them. Members from both parties used the summit to restate talking points that have been repeatedly used over the past year.
Now that the summit is over, Congressional leaders will confer with Senators and Congressmen/women of their own party and gauge opinions on how to move forward. The President would like to finish health reform by the end of March before Congress leaves for the spring recess in late March. The President and Democrats did make clear that they do not want to start the reform process over.
We will see over the next few days and weeks what comes of the healthcare summit.
Andrew Morris, MPH
Director of Legislation,
Spinal Cord Advocates
