US President Barack Obama urged lawmakers to attend his meeting on health care next week in “good faith” as he decried “jaw-dropping” insurance rate increases that he said underscore the need for congressional remedies.
After legislation that would have required all Americans to have insurance while imposing new regulations on insurers stalled in Congress amid Republican opposition, Obama invited congressional leaders from both parties to a meeting Feb. 25 to discuss alternative proposals.
“I hope they come in a spirit of good faith,” Obama said today in his weekly address on the radio and the Internet. “I don’t want to see this meeting turn into political theater, with each side simply reciting talking points and trying to score political points.”
In the Republican address, Representative Dave Camp of Michigan said that the health-care debate needs to be reset to the beginning and he criticized Democratic proposals that are being negotiated ahead of time in secret.
“If the starting point for this summit is more of the same backroom deals and partisan bills, then this meeting will likely be a charade,” Camp said.
Obama said he is considering Republican ideas as he crafts his own proposal, such as letting health insurance be sold across state lines and allowing small businesses to join together to purchase insurance policies for the employees.
“I hope Democrats and Republicans can come together next week around these and other ideas,” Obama said.
Republican Ideas
Camp said the Republican proposals include letting states implement their own reforms and a crackdown on medical malpractice lawsuits.
“Republicans remain ready to discuss these ideas with President Obama and move forward in a bipartisan way to lower health care costs,” he said. “But Americans’ health care is way too important to risk on a rushed backroom deal that puts federal bureaucrats in charge of your personal health-care decisions.”
On February 9 Obama singled out for criticism proposed insurance premium increases by a California subsidiary of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. that the company later delayed.
In his address today, he said customers of Anthem Blue Cross of California recently “opened up their mailboxes to find a letter” and that the “news inside was jaw-dropping.” The company, he said, wanted to raise premiums “by an average of 25 per cent, with about a quarter of folks likely to see their rates go up anywhere from 35 to 39 per cent.”
Other States
He expressed concern about similar rate hikes that either have been put into effect or are proposed in Michigan, Kansas and Maine.
“The bottom line is that the status quo is good for the insurance industry and bad for America,” he said.
Obama called the health-care debate a test of the government’s ability to solve problems, and said it has gone on long enough.
“Americans are understandably despairing about whether partisanship and the undue influence of special interests in Washington will make it impossible for us to deal with the big challenges that face our country,” he said.
