Obama welcomes allies, skeptics to health summit

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama summoned allies, skeptics and health care figures of all stripes to the White House Thursday to debate ideas for overhauling the nation’s costly system and declared, “The status quo is the one option that is not on the table.”

The big Washington session — Obama called it a health care summit — and meetings to follow around the country show the new president’s push for universal health care coverage will be more open and inclusive than the Clinton administration’s failed attempt of 15 years ago.

“In this effort, every voice has to be heard. Every idea must be considered. ... There should be no sacred cows,” Obama said as he opened his White House forum on what he calls the greatest threat to the U.S. economy — rising health care costs. Mindful that opponents derailed the Clinton plan, Obama also issued a warning: “Those who seek to block any reform at all, any reform at any cost, will not prevail this time around.”

The U.S. system is the world’s costliest; the country spends some $2.4 trillion a year on health care. It leaves an estimated 48 million people uninsured, and many others lack adequate insurance.

Although he wants coverage for all, the president suggested a willingness to compromise. That, too, was a break from former President Bill Clinton’s posture in the 1990s when he promised to veto any health care measure that didn’t give him what he sought.

This time, Obama said, “Each of us must accept that none of us will get everything we want, and no proposal for reform will be perfect.” And, he said, “While everyone has a right to take part in this discussion, no one has the right to take it over.”

At the same time, he blasted “those who say we should defer health care reform once again” even though, unlike the last time, there’s widespread agreement that something needs to be done. He also called health care reform both a moral imperative, and now a fiscal imperative because of its huge stress on the nation’s financial books. He blamed Washington politics and industry lobbying for past failures, while pledging to put the public’s interest ahead of both this time.

Obama is setting a rigorous timeline to enact “comprehensive health care reform” by year’s end, though he didn’t precisely define what that would entail. His advisers say while he hopes for a bipartisan measure, he won’t be deterred by ideological fights or interest group opposition.

Unlike Clinton, Obama isn’t offering a specific plan, but rather is outlining general principles to guide the Democratic-controlled Congress as it writes the measure: increased coverage, improved services and better control of costs. The House and Senate will be left to do the heavy lifting.