Obama doesn't have time to wait for Congress

[Disclaimer]

Number one: let families and businesses buy health insurance across state lines.

Number two: allow individuals, small businesses, and trade associations to pool together and acquire health insurance at lower prices, the same way large corporations and labor unions do.

Number three: give states the tools to create their own innovative reforms that lower health care costs.

Number four: end junk lawsuits that contribute to higher health care costs by increasing the number of tests and procedures that physicians sometimes order not because they think it's good medicine, but because they are afraid of being sued.

1) Doesn't work because you'll end up with insurance cherry picking healthy vs. unhealthy (http://newamerica.net/publications/policy/across_state_lines_explained)

2) Identical to current system, and that's already in the legislation - if you want to keep your existing plan, you can.

3) What tools? That's a blanket statement.

4) Tort reform, while important, accounts for less than 5% of healthcare costs, so that's not going to alter the current path (http://washingtonindependent.com/55535/tort-reform-unlikely-to-cut-health-care-costs)

So, any other proposals that can't be refuted?

[Uncle Punk]

What is wrong with cherry picking your risk? Auto insurance providers do it all the time. What is wrong with paying more if you are sick? We are not all equal and shouldn't be treated as such. The government shouldn't be there to punish those who make wise choices just to reward those who don't. I understand my healthcare is part of my budget because I value it and I don't expect it to be free. We all make choices to what we value in our lives and spend accordingly. It's not the governments place to make our entire choices equal.

You can keep your existing plan but with that came the proposed dreaded government option that would have taken away all choices in a very quick time because it didn't have to make a profit. You can't compete against a business model that isn't a business.

The tools are to get the federal government out of the states way by not imposing unfunded mandates upon them.

The numbers they are using are wrong. They are factoring in the actual cost of the healthcare first. If you want to argue this numbers game go right ahead but both sides have numbers to support their argument. I can show articles with projected savings of 5.4 billion a year. If you can't see your way clear to understand that this cost savings is a good thing I don't know how to talk down to that level of reasoning to help persuade you.

[alienpi]

With a title like "Obama doesn't have time to wait for Congress"...I doubt it.

Got to have a catchy thread title.

[InyaAzz]

Marketing Marketing Marketing!!

[Disclaimer]

Gibbs Says GOP Will Need To Explain Why They Now Oppose Health Care Summit They Called For

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/02/gibbs-says-gop-will-need-to-explain-why-they-now-oppose-health-care-summit-they-called-for.php

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today the proposed insurance rate hikes from Anthem Blue Cross in California that we've been writing about will serve as a backdrop for President Obama's health care summit next week.

Gibbs struck an ominous tone, suggesting that if reform doesn't pass now, there are more increases to come. It's an issue the Democrats seized on recently as they attempt to push a final measure over the goal line.

"People are getting letters in the mail now. They got them in California. Your health insurance is going to go up almost 40 percent from last year to this year. That's a preview of what's going to happen if we don't do anything," Gibbs said.

Gibbs also reacted to Anthem parent company Well Point's justification for the hikes - that reform is necessary.

"Well, I would say to this insurer, welcome to the game. Come down and help us -- help be part of the solution for cutting costs and increasing coverage," Gibbs said.

Republicans have not yet accepted the invitation and have said that the White House should start from scratch with a clean sheet of paper. Gibbs mocked the party for not immediately accepting a meeting they called for.

"Right before the president issued the invitation, the -- the thing that each of these individuals was hoping for most was an opportunity to sit down on television and discuss and engage on these issues. Now, not accepting an invitation to do what they'd asked the president to do, if they decide not to, I'll let them leap the -- leap the chasm there and try to explain why they're now opposed to what they said they wanted most to do," he said.

Gibbs said the process is "toward the end of the solution finding."

The press secretary several times pointedly declined to say what would be in the draft "online text" that Obama told lawmakers he'd post before the Feb. 25 summit, telling reporters in the daily briefing today to "stay tuned."

We've been asking our Congressional sources all day what they expect to be in that draft. So far, no answers, but we'll keep readers posted.