President Obama said today he still hopes that Congress can vote on a healthcare overhaul bill before its August recess, despite a series of setbacks this week for his top domestic priority.
House leaders hoped to unveil their bill today, but have put that off until at least Monday while they try to bring conservative Democrats, known as the Blue Dog Coalition, back into the fold. Democrats in both the House and Senate are scrambling to come up with a way to pay the estimated $1 trillion cost over the next decade.
UPDATE: In the latest approach to financing the overhaul, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel told reporters this afternoon that the House bill to be unveiled on Monday would raise $540 billion over the next decade by imposing a 1 percent surtax on Americans with an annual income of more than $350,000. A higher surtax is proposed for people earning $500,000 and $1 million, he said.
Combined with savings promised by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, including cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the tax revenue is designed to be enough to pay for a bill costing about $1 trillion.
"Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month," Obama told reporters at the close of the G-8 summit in Italy.
He insisted that Washington is closer "at any time in recent history" to "achieving serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to American families, allows them to keep their doctors and plans that are working for them."
As both parties and both chambers work through the legislation, the president said, his job is to set "clear parameters" -- cutting costs, emphasizing prevention, covering the nearly 50 million uninsured, and doing it in a way that does not add to the federal deficit.
"There are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I'm confident that we're going to get it done," Obama added. "What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their healthcare."
His full answer at the news conference is below:
Q. I'd like to return to domestic issues, Mr. President -- health care. The momentum seems to have slowed a bit. The Senate Finance Committee is still wrestling with the cost issue. The Blue Dog Democrats, members of your own party, yesterday said they had strong reservations about what's developing so far. I was just wondering, when are you going to be jumping in really full force with this? Do you have any sweeteners planned? What is your push before the August recess?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we jumped in with both feet. Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month.
So I think it's important just to recognize we are closer to achieving serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to American families, allows them to keep their doctors and plans that are working for them.
We're closer to that significant reform than at any time in recent history. That doesn't make it easy. It's hard. And we are having a whole series of constant negotiations. This is not simply a Democratic versus Republican issue. This is a House versus Senate issue; this is different committees that have different priorities.
My job is to make sure that I've set some clear parameters in terms of what I want to achieve. We have to bend the cost curve on health care, and there are some very specific ways of doing that -- game changers that incentivize quality as opposed to quantity, that emphasize prevention.
There are a whole host of things that I've put on the table that I want to see included. I've said that it's got to be budget neutral, it's got to be deficit neutral, and so whatever bill is produced has to be paid for, and that creates some difficulties because people would like to get the good stuff without paying for it.
And so there are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I'm confident that we're going to get it done. And I think that, appropriately, all of you as reporters are reporting on the game. What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their health care. They are going into debt. Some are going into bankruptcy -- small businesses and large businesses that are feeling enormous pressure. And I'm also looking at the federal budget.
There's been a lot of talk about the deficit and the debt and, from my Republican colleagues, you know, why isn't Obama doing something about this, ignoring the fact that we got into the worst recession since the Great Depression with a $1.3 billion deficit. Fair enough. This is occurring my watch.
What cannot be denied is that the only way to get a handle on our medium- and long-term budget deficits is if we corral and contain health care costs. Nobody denies this. And so my hope is, is that everybody who is talking about deficit reduction gets serious about reducing the cost of health care and puts some serious proposals on the table. And I think it's going to get done.
It is going to be hard, though, because as I said I think in one of the town hall meetings that I had, as dissatisfied as Americans may be with the health care system, as concerned as they are about the prospects that they may lose their job or their premiums may keep on rising, they're also afraid of the unknown. And we have a long history in America of scaring people that they're going to lose their doctor, they're going to lose their health care plans, they're going to be stuck with some bureaucratic government system that's not responsive to their needs. And overcoming that fear -- fear that is often actively promoted by special interests who profit from the existing system -- is a challenge. And so my biggest job, even as my staff is working on the day-to-day negotiations with the House and Senate staffs, my biggest job is to explain to the American people why this is so important and give them confidence that we can do better than we're doing right now.
Q Is it pretty much a do-or-die by the August recess?
THE PRESIDENT: I never believe anything is do-or-die. But I really want to get it done by the August recess.
Source
House leaders hoped to unveil their bill today, but have put that off until at least Monday while they try to bring conservative Democrats, known as the Blue Dog Coalition, back into the fold. Democrats in both the House and Senate are scrambling to come up with a way to pay the estimated $1 trillion cost over the next decade.
UPDATE: In the latest approach to financing the overhaul, House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel told reporters this afternoon that the House bill to be unveiled on Monday would raise $540 billion over the next decade by imposing a 1 percent surtax on Americans with an annual income of more than $350,000. A higher surtax is proposed for people earning $500,000 and $1 million, he said.
Combined with savings promised by hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, including cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the tax revenue is designed to be enough to pay for a bill costing about $1 trillion.
"Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month," Obama told reporters at the close of the G-8 summit in Italy.
He insisted that Washington is closer "at any time in recent history" to "achieving serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to American families, allows them to keep their doctors and plans that are working for them."
As both parties and both chambers work through the legislation, the president said, his job is to set "clear parameters" -- cutting costs, emphasizing prevention, covering the nearly 50 million uninsured, and doing it in a way that does not add to the federal deficit.
"There are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I'm confident that we're going to get it done," Obama added. "What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their healthcare."
His full answer at the news conference is below:
Q. I'd like to return to domestic issues, Mr. President -- health care. The momentum seems to have slowed a bit. The Senate Finance Committee is still wrestling with the cost issue. The Blue Dog Democrats, members of your own party, yesterday said they had strong reservations about what's developing so far. I was just wondering, when are you going to be jumping in really full force with this? Do you have any sweeteners planned? What is your push before the August recess?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we jumped in with both feet. Our team is working with members of Congress every day on this issue, and it is my highest legislative priority over the next month.
So I think it's important just to recognize we are closer to achieving serious health care reform that cuts costs, provides coverage to American families, allows them to keep their doctors and plans that are working for them.
We're closer to that significant reform than at any time in recent history. That doesn't make it easy. It's hard. And we are having a whole series of constant negotiations. This is not simply a Democratic versus Republican issue. This is a House versus Senate issue; this is different committees that have different priorities.
My job is to make sure that I've set some clear parameters in terms of what I want to achieve. We have to bend the cost curve on health care, and there are some very specific ways of doing that -- game changers that incentivize quality as opposed to quantity, that emphasize prevention.
There are a whole host of things that I've put on the table that I want to see included. I've said that it's got to be budget neutral, it's got to be deficit neutral, and so whatever bill is produced has to be paid for, and that creates some difficulties because people would like to get the good stuff without paying for it.
And so there are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I'm confident that we're going to get it done. And I think that, appropriately, all of you as reporters are reporting on the game. What I'm trying to keep focused on are the people out in states all across the country that are getting hammered by rising premiums. They're losing their jobs and suddenly losing their health care. They are going into debt. Some are going into bankruptcy -- small businesses and large businesses that are feeling enormous pressure. And I'm also looking at the federal budget.
There's been a lot of talk about the deficit and the debt and, from my Republican colleagues, you know, why isn't Obama doing something about this, ignoring the fact that we got into the worst recession since the Great Depression with a $1.3 billion deficit. Fair enough. This is occurring my watch.
What cannot be denied is that the only way to get a handle on our medium- and long-term budget deficits is if we corral and contain health care costs. Nobody denies this. And so my hope is, is that everybody who is talking about deficit reduction gets serious about reducing the cost of health care and puts some serious proposals on the table. And I think it's going to get done.
It is going to be hard, though, because as I said I think in one of the town hall meetings that I had, as dissatisfied as Americans may be with the health care system, as concerned as they are about the prospects that they may lose their job or their premiums may keep on rising, they're also afraid of the unknown. And we have a long history in America of scaring people that they're going to lose their doctor, they're going to lose their health care plans, they're going to be stuck with some bureaucratic government system that's not responsive to their needs. And overcoming that fear -- fear that is often actively promoted by special interests who profit from the existing system -- is a challenge. And so my biggest job, even as my staff is working on the day-to-day negotiations with the House and Senate staffs, my biggest job is to explain to the American people why this is so important and give them confidence that we can do better than we're doing right now.
Q Is it pretty much a do-or-die by the August recess?
THE PRESIDENT: I never believe anything is do-or-die. But I really want to get it done by the August recess.
Source
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