Health-care reform gets new life or dies Thursday

Health-care reform gets new life or dies Thursday

Six hours is not a very long time in which to iron out one of the most pressing issues facing the United States: the ever-increasing cost of health care and the strain it places on the American people and the nation’s economy.

And so, if Thursday’s health care summit from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the White House were the starting point for health-care reform, it would be a waste of time.

But Democrats and Republicans in Washington have been talking about addressing these problems for about 40 years, through seven presidencies and for the first year of the presidency of Barack Obama. There are very few surprises left, and it is unlikely that any will be unveiled tomorrow by either Democrats or Republicans.

Both parties had more than enough opportunities to present their proposals during the last year. Obama’s strategic mistake was suggesting that congressional Democrats and Republicans should be able to reach an legislative compromise without more forceful input from the White House. The result was an ugly process that involved too much partisan politics and far too much horse trading, much of it in the Senate and aimed solely at putting together a super majority needed to avert a Republican filibuster.

Why are they there?

Tomorrow, the president, Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will present the administrations proposals for controlling costs, insurance reforms, reducing the deficit and expanding coverage. Democratic and Republican congressional leaders will be there to listen and to respond. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky will be bringing along Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Obama’s opponent in 2008, and Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., a medical doctor and outspoken fiscal conservative. “We’re happy to be there, but I’m not quite sure what the purpose is,” said McConnell. Here’s a hint: Bring your own proposals and be prepared to argue their value.

McConnell and his House counterpart, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, should drop their disingenuous call for Obama and the Democrats to “start over.” Both the House and the Senate have passed bills. They are not perfect, but they provide a point from which to work.

Starting over now is not an option because everyone in Washington knows that it is code for killing reform in this Congress. History shows that if reform dies in 2010 it will not be resurrected for years, most likely not for a decade. And during those years, health care costs will double. People and companies that are paying $10,000 or $15,000 for coverage today will be trying to find ways of paying $20,000 or $30,000. And the nation that already spends a higher portion of its GNP on health care than any other Western country will see the percentage climb ever higher. The numbers of uninsured will grow and the cost of their health care will continue to be shifted onto those who can still manage to pay.

Doing nothing is not an option. Sticking Band-Aids on the problem is not an option.

Getting a good look

The American people are being given a completely open window on the process tomorrow, after which Democrats and Republicans will have to return to the Capitol and decide whether they want to work together on a solution or not.

If the answer is not, it will fall to Obama to organize the Democratic majorities in the House and the Senate to pass a bill, using the process of reconciliation, which sidesteps the 60-vote margin needed to overcome a filibuster. It’s the same process used by Republicans during the presidency of George W. Bush to avoid important legislation being held up by Democratic filibusters.

It shouldn’t have come to this, because the need for congressional action is so obvious. But the stakes were set by partisans such as Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who said last July that if the president could be defeated on his signature issue of health-care reform, it would be his “Waterloo.” Obama has to respond to the challenge or reconcile himself to three years of playing Napoleon to DeMint’s Duke of Wellington.