"A new presidency for Obama"

The House of Representatives approves the healthcare reform bill, something the Democrats had been trying to do since 1945 and that took centre stage in the White House agenda.

From El Pais, Spain, 22/03/2010

Antonio Caño, Washington

The acting leader of the House, David Obey, banged the gavel at 22.45 (03.45 CET) to announce that the Healthcare Reform Bill of the United States had been approved with 219 votes in favour against 212 against.

In the Oval Office, surrounded by his collaborators, Barack Obama lived the moment like the sound of bell-ringings, the type of glory that is worth the most brutal of political battles. The Bill may not be officially assured yet, but the future of Obama's Presidency is.

For American society, the gavel brought to an end a day which had been memorable, both in terms of the drama and the emotions that led to it, as well as for the monumental consequences that will follow the vote.

Around 32 million uninsured will now be provided health coverage through the state. This will be the end for the tyranny of those private health insurers who impose unfair premiums and conditions. The Government will help small businesses who cannot offer their staff health insurance and will set penalities for those who refuse to provide coverage. Also, relationships with doctors and hospitals will be reviewed and healthcare will be guaranteed to both children and the young unemployed.

In a nutshell, the gavel heralded a huge step forward in the direction of better social justice and, symbolically, a massive blow against the Republicans, who tried every possible startegy to derail the reform. The majority of Democrats decided to finally lend their support in spite of the persistent warnings from the opposition (as well as some opinion polls) that the bill could prove electorally costly.

A last minute deal was struck with around ten pro-life Democrats led by Congressman Bart Stupak - President Obama will sign an executive order guaranteeing that no public funds will be used for abortions. This proved crucial to secure the last necessary votes.

Last night, along with the Bill, the House voted a series of amendments to be added to the text once it secures the Senate's approval. The Republicans could delay the process, but can no longer stop the Bill which simply needs the President's signature to be completed.

This success heralds a new presidency for Obama. Concluded the long and winded process that led to the Health Bill approval, the US President is a new man. Accomplished a mission that absorbed all his energy, he has now the opportunity to achieve other domestic goals (the Energy Bill, education reforms, the Immigration Bill, etc) as well as play a bigger role in foreign affairs.

Few presidents have had such a clear opportunity of boosting their mandate at this stage because few presidents have been at the core of an event of such magnitude. This is the equivalent of 9/11 for George W Bush, a landmark event that turned him from moderate politician into a fanatical neo-con.

March 21 won't turn Obama into a previously unseen version of himself. More likely, it will signify the making of an incredible candidate and a fully fledged president.

In the run-up to the 2008 election, Obama conceded in an interview that nobody studies to become president and that it's a job you only learn by actually doing it. And he's acted like an amateur for most of the time he's spent in the White House. Someone with good intentions and good ideas, willful and confident, but with evident lack of experience.

Without the help of a seasoned Washington professional such as Nancy Pelosi, the dream of a Healthcare Reform would long ago have died a premature death.

On the other side, without Obama's vision and the prominence that he gave this Bill as his number one priority, this project would have fallen into the same black holes that sucked in all of his predecessors'.

The debate taught Obama a few things that may prove useful in the long term. One, for instance, is the President's isolation. Obama learnt that no Congress member, including those most loyal to his party, would ever risk their career to save the President. Until the end of February, when Obama took full responsibility for the Bill, negotiations had ground to a standstill.

Also, Obama learnt that bipartisanship is a beautiful concept but not an easy one to pull off. Since last summer, the Republicans spotted the Healthcare Reform Bill as the President's Achille's heel and went for the jugular. Yesterday, the Republican's leader in the House, John Boehner, warned that "this war isn't over".

Saturday at Capitol Hill, Obama made his best pitch for health reform: "we are proud of our individualism, we are proud of our liberty, but we also have a sense of neighborliness and a sense of community and we are willing to look out for one another and help people who are vulnerable and help people who are down on their luck and give them a pathway to success and give them a ladder into the middle class".

(link to original article)

[Translated by myself as best I could].

US House passes key healthcare reform bill

Extract from BBC News Online, 22 March 2009

The US House of Representatives has narrowly voted to pass a landmark healthcare reform bill at the heart of President Barack Obama's agenda.

The bill was passed by 219 votes to 212, with no Republican backing, after hours of fierce argument and debate.

It extends coverage to 32 million more Americans, and marks the biggest change to the US healthcare system in decades.

"We proved that we are still a people capable of doing big things," Mr Obama said in remarks after the vote.

"This legislation will not fix everything that ails our healthcare system, but it moves us decisively in the right direction," he said.

Mr Obama is expected to sign the legislation into law shortly.

But a new challenge is expected in the Senate, where Democrats hope amendments to the bill will be enacted by a simple majority. Republicans say the move is unconstitutional and plan to stop it.

Historic vote

This is the most significant victory for the president since he took office 14 months ago, says BBC North America editor Mark Mardell.

He has been tough and tenacious - some might say stubborn - in pushing this legislation after so much opposition and so many setbacks, our correspondent says.

When the vote count hit the magic number of 216 - the minimum needed to pass the bill - Democrats hugged and cheered in celebration and chanted: "Yes we can!"

Under the legislation, health insurance will be extended to nearly all Americans, new taxes imposed on the wealthy, and restrictive insurance practices such as refusing to cover people with pre-existing medical conditions will be outlawed.

The bill's final approval represented a stunning turnaround from January, when it was considered dead after Democrats lost their 60-seaty majority in the Senate, which is required to defeat a filibuster.

To avoid a second Senate vote, the House also approved on Sunday evening a package of reconciliation "fixes" - agreed beforehand between House and Senate Democrats and the White House - amending the bill that senators adopted in December.

The White House plans to launch a campaign this week to persuade sceptical Americans that the reforms offer immediate benefits to them and represent the most significant effort to reduce the federal deficit since the 1990s.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the healthcare bill will cut the federal deficit by $138bn (£92bn) over 10 years.

[Read the article in full here]

Barack Obama lays out case for health reform in live debate

The Independent (UK), 25 February 2010

President Barack Obama both wooed and blasted Republicans who have impeded his health care plan in an extraordinary live TV summit today.

He called the meeting with the aim of breaking a partisan deadlock over his top domestic priority.

And with the unprecedented, day-long policy debate available from start to finish to a divided public, Mr Obama and Democratic leaders cast the reform they want as critical to tackling an issue that is even more pressing to many Americans - the struggling economy.

Passing a version of the bill that Republicans managed to block despite solid Democratic majorities in Congress also is critical to the president's political future and that of his party ahead of congressional elections in November.

With that in mind, Mr Obama was trying to boost support from moderate Democratic politicians, who could face the wrath of conservative voters if they back their president's plan.

"We all know that this is urgent," Mr Obama said.

At stake is the Democrats' stalled legislation to extend coverage to more than 30 million people who are now uninsured.

Polls show Americans want their elected leaders to address the problems of high medical costs, eroding access to coverage and uneven quality. But the public is split over the Democrats' sweeping legislation, with its trillion-dollar, 10-year price tag and many complex provisions.

For Mr Obama, the summit is his chance to make a compelling closing argument to the American people. If he succeeds, Democrats will push ahead to pass the legislation with a package of revisions he's proposed. If he falters, another Democratic president will have been humbled by health care. He will have to appeal to both sides to at least give him a modest bill smoothing some of the rough edges from the current system.

Mr Obama lamented the partisan bickering that has stalled the health care legislation. "Politics I think ended up trumping practical common sense," he said. But, he noted, "everybody here understands the desperation that people feel when they're sick. And I think everybody here is profoundly sympathetic and wants to make sure that we have a system that works for all Americans."

And yet, even as he pleaded for cooperation he acknowledged agreement may not be possible. "I don't know that those gaps can be bridged," Mr Obama said. "If not, at least we will have better clarified for the American people what the debate is all about."

Both chambers of Congress passed separate bills last year. But before the two versions could be reconciled, Republicans captured the Massachusetts Senate seat in a special election to replace the late Edward Kennedy. That cost Democrats the 60-vote supermajority needed to overcome Republican procedural obstacles and pass major legislation.

Public scepticism about the health care plan was seen as contributing to the Republican victory in Massachusetts, an overwhelmingly Democratic state. With the supermajority lost and Democrats getting nervous, the White House had been expected to shift its attention to job creation, an issue more likely to resonate with voters.

Disagreements were not always expressed diplomatically today.

Republican Senator Lamar Alexander challenged Mr Obama's claim that insurance premiums would fall under the Democratic legislation. "You're wrong," he said. The president responded: "I'm pretty certain I'm not wrong."

Despite losing their supermajority, Democrats can still pass major health legislation by using special budget rules that require only a simple majority. They have been reluctant to use that process so far because it would enrage Republicans and further worsen the partisan divide.

Another alternative if bipartisan agreement eludes Mr Obama today is going smaller, with a modest bill that would merely smooth some of the rough edges from the current system.

The White House developed the slimmed-down health care proposal so the president will know what the impact would be if he chooses that route, according to a Democratic official familiar with the discussions.

Analysis: Barack Obama the underdog

Extract from The Times (UK), 28 January 2010

By Giles Whittell in Washington

Barack Obama has had to come down from the Olympian heights to recast himself as a street fighter, even an underdog - and he did it well.

His political task last night was to gloss over a thin record of accomplishment and chart a course towards midterm elections in November that a deeply demoralised Democratic party is starting to dread.

He admitted he and his team had made mistakes in their first year even if most of the errors were left unspecified other than a failure to communicate his aims for health reform.

But he did not abandon his big goals on health, financial reform or climate change and made the Republicans look like the party of "no".

And the key line from the speech was one of defiance: "We do not give up. We do not quit. We don’t allow fear or division to break our spirit.”

Few of his supporters would have forecast such a shrunken agenda a year ago, when Mr Obama’s sweeping promises of change still seemed equal to the monumental challenges posed by a collapsing economy. Since then recovery has been sluggish, unemployment has been stuck at 10 per cent and Republican efforts to sabotage health, financial and energy legislation have been relentless.

But aides said Mr Obama had lost none of his ambition and still planned to change the way Washington does business – but in reality he is more dependent than ever on the 535 members of Congress who crammed into the House of Representatives last night.

Read the article in full here.

What a week this anniversary

Mark Mardell, BBC News Online, 22 January 2010

What a week. This anniversary of the president's year in office was always going to be a time for reflection.

The victory of Scott Brown in Republican-resistant Massachusetts turned it into a time for urgent reassessment for the president's party. The word "pivotal" has been used

a fair bit. That's right. After twelve months the President has swung on his heel.

This may be, as many commentators contend, the beginning of the end for a one-term, flash-in-the-pan President. This is the third victory in a row for Republicans and they are on a roll. It certainly hints to sweeping Republican victories in November's mid-term elections.

But it may be just the kick the president and his party needed. After that stunning victory and the adulation that followed, he assumed his popularity gave him political invincibility. Although he has been accused of governing from further left than some expected, at heart he's a pragmatist.

He got his head down and got on with the new, serious, difficult and no doubt fascinating business of running the most powerful country in the world.

This week may have reminded him that these days, and especially in America, the political campaign can never stop. The most important thing about power is what you do with it. But a very close second is making sure you keep it.

There have been immediate changes. Whether they like it or not, the Democrats' number one priority, health care, has just slipped dramatically down the agenda.

Scott Brown's election left them with few options. The two main ones have now been ruled out. The president has said the plan must not be pushed through the Senate before Mr Brown takes his seat. Nancy Pelosi has said the Senate bill won't get enough votes in the House.

This surely means that healthcare reform, as currently proposed, is finished.

They deny it is dead, but it is certainly in a coma, only to be wakened if some Republican senators have an unlikely epiphany.

This will be very disappointing for some who voted for Obama. But many on the left thought the plan was too watered down to be worth much.

The opinion polls suggest a more complex picture than simply people hating the idea of any reform, but the current plan had become politically toxic.

The two bills are just too confusing, and the Democrats haven't tried to sell them clearly. I heard a fascinating piece on NPR this morning, an economist trying to convince a union member that taxing her Cadillac plan wouldn't hurt her.
His argument rested on the belief that her company would raise wages if it was forced to adopt a less expensive plan. Not surprisingly, she wasn't convinced.

Then there is the president's radical plan for the banks. This looks like a dramatic policy shift. The White House says it was signed off before Christmas, so I'll just observe that by an amazing coincidence it is a perfect fit for this week's narrative.

The president has christened the new plan, so offensive to many big banks, the Volcker rules after former chairman of the Federal Reserve Tall Paul. This is kind of the president because by all accounts Paul Volcker had all but given up on his plan ever being adopted. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was apparently opposed. Now it seems he's been overruled.

The president knows getting this through congress will be hard. But this isn't a messy vote loser in the country. This is a populist clarion call.

He's predicting a swarm of lobbyists will descend on Capitol Hill and he's doing a good impression of a man relishing the scrap ahead.

He'll hope the American people will be cheering him on. He has called on Republicans to join in designing common sense rules to protect ordinary Americans.

They may well deride his plan as another example of government interference, but they are in a sticky position and they know it.

One senator has dismissively said he is creating a "bogeyman". But I bet it is a bogeyman that frightens many of his voters.

The Supreme Court ruling raises another spectre. Banks that feel threatened can spend their money running ads against the new laws.

There may be a torrent of them. But they will have to put their names on them, rather than saying "This advert was paid for by Americans for a nicer America" as happens at the moment. They will have to be very clever adverts to avoid public distain.

The White House no longer seems complacent in the face of bad opinion polls, disastrous elections and a re-invigorated Republican party. Late in the day, they are accepting the battle is serious and returning to the fray.

Mark Madell's article was originally published here.

Republicans take Ted Kennedy's seat in dramatic upset

Democrats lose Senate seat in Massachusetts, throwing Obama's health reform plan into doubt

From the Guardian, UK- Ewen MacAskill, 20 January 2009

The Republicans have produced one of the biggest political upsets of recent US history by winning Ted Kennedy's Senate seat in Massachusetts, traditionally one of the safest Democratic states in the country.

The victory against the odds came on the eve of the anniversary today of Barack Obama's inauguration, a heady time for the Democrats when they entertained hopes of a prolonged period of dominance.

The win robs the Democrats of their filibuster-proof 60-40 majority in the Senate and throws into doubt the future of Obama's health reform plan. Obama and the Democratic leadership will have to decide whether to take another look at the bill.

Scott Brown, a truck-driving National Guardsman who was virtually unknown even in Massachusetts a few weeks ago, beat Martha Coakley, the state attorney general who had expected to inherit the seat, by 52% to 47%.

Brown, in his victory speech, referred to one of the decisive moments of the campaign, when in a debate Coakley referred to "Ted Kennedy's seat". Brown said: "This Senate seat belongs to no one person, to no political party … This is the people's seat."

Coakley, in her concession speech, said: "I am heartbroken at the result, as I know you are, and I know we will get up together tomorrow and continue this fight, even with this result tonight."

It is a huge psychological blow to the Democrats: the seat of John F Kennedy and then Edward Kennedy until his death last year is now in Republican hands. If a seat regarded by Democrats as one of the safest in the country can fall, then scores of Democrats standing in the congressional mid-term elections in November will see themselves as also vulnerable.

"It is a shock, a total shock," said David Hadas, 37, one of more than a thousand Coakley supporters at a Boston hotel for what they hoped would be a celebration.

"It is only a year ago everyone was very upset with the Republican party and we swept Obama into office."

Voters, citing reasons for the shift to the Republicans, repeatedly expressed hostility towards the healthcare bill but also a belief that Obama represented too much government interference, was too leftwing and was spending too much.

The Democrats have several Plan Bs for the health bill, none of which they regard as satisfactory. One was to vote on the bill before Brown takes up his seat but Jim Webb, a Democratic senator, appeared to block that last night by saying the election had been both about heathcare and the integrity of the government process.

More than 2,000 Republicans turned up at another Boston hotel last night to noisily celebrate a rare victory after heavy defeats in the 2006 congressional elections and again in 2008 for the White House.

"I pray this will be the start of a bloodless revolution, the start of the campaign against the Obama agenda, in which the silent majority are heard," David Knight, 43, a Republican from neighbouring Rhode Island, said. "We hope this is the end of the health bill but they could still ram it through."

Michael Nicolazzo, 26, who was also at the party, was a Democrat until two years ago but felt Obama was too left wing. "This was a referendum on Obama. For the bluest of all states to elect a Republican, it really sends a message that people do not want extravagant spending." He, too, hoped the health bill will be killed.

Brown received a lot of backing from Republicans who had travelled to join him from all round the US, and also from grassroots groups that have grown up in opposition to Obama's agenda, particularly on health, such as the Tea Party.

At the Boston hotel where the Democrats held their wake, some began crying as the first results came through. Most headed home early.

"We are all in shock," said Addrienne Walker, 40, who was still carrying a Coakley poster. "We have not had a Republican in that seat since 1952." She hoped Obama would not back off on health reform but admitted that the November elections would be tough. "It is not looking good. Obama is going to have a fight on his hands."

Even before polling closed, the Democrats were engaged in a blame game. The White House and the national leadership hinted that Coakley had been responsible because she had fought too low-key a campaign.

Obama issued a relatively terse statement, thanking Coakley for her hard work.

Local Democrats blamed the national leadership, saying they had been too slow in recognising the danger and providing the necessary campaign cash and staff. They accused the national leadership of having pushed for the negative ads in the final days and claimed this had alienated independents.

A third candidate, Joe Kennedy, representing the Libertarians, took only 1%. He is no relation to the late senator.

Senate healthcare bill set to pass by Christmas

Democrats' compromise on abortion with Nebraska's Ben Nelson gives them the 60 votes to fight off GOP filibusters. Obama calls it 'a major step forward for the American people.'

Extract from the Los Angeles Times, 20 December 2009

By Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook

Reporting from Washington - After a dramatic month of sometimes round-the-clock negotiating and deal-making, Senate Democrats came together Saturday behind sweeping healthcare legislation, providing a powerful boost for President Obama's top domestic policy goal.

The breakthrough came after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and his lieutenants engineered a delicately crafted compromise to prevent federal funding of abortions, the same issue that nearly stopped the House from passing its healthcare bill six weeks ago.

With the deal, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a strong opponent of abortion, became the 60th and crucial last member of the Democratic caucus to line up behind the healthcare legislation.

That paved the way for Reid to introduce a final package of changes to his 2,074-page bill and file the necessary procedural motions that should allow Democrats to quash an expected series of Republican filibuster attempts over the next several days. The Senate now remains on track to pass its version of the bill by Christmas.

"Today is a major step forward for the American people," Obama said Saturday afternoon at the White House as a thick layer of snow blanketed the capital. "After a nearly century-long struggle, we are on the cusp of making healthcare reform a reality."

Read the full article here.

Abortion was at the heart of wrangling

Extract from The New York Times, Sun 8 Nov 2009

By David Herszenhorn and Jackie Calmes

WASHINGTON — It was late Friday night and lawmakers were stalling for time. In a committee room, they yammered away, delaying a procedural vote on the historic health care legislation. Down one floor, in her office, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi desperately tried to deal with an issue that has bedeviled Democrats for more than a generation — abortion.

After hours of heated talks, the people she was trying to convince — some of her closest allies — burst angrily out of her office.

Her attempts at winning them over had failed, and Ms. Pelosi, the first woman speaker and an ardent defender of abortion rights, had no choice but to do the unthinkable. To save the health care bill she had to give in to abortion opponents in her party and allow them to propose tight restrictions barring any insurance plan that is purchased with government subsidies from covering abortions.

The restrictions were necessary to win support for the overall bill from abortion opponents who threatened to scuttle the health care overhaul.

The results of that fight, waged heavily over two days, were evident as one liberal Democrat after another denounced the health care plan because of abortion restrictions, even though they were likely to hold their noses in the end and vote for the bill itself.

“If enacted, this amendment will be the greatest restriction of a woman’s right to choose to pass in our careers,” said Representative Diana DeGette, Democrat of Colorado, one of the lawmakers who left Ms. Pelosi’s office mad.

Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, said the bill’s original language barring the use of federal dollars to pay for abortions should have been sufficient for the opponents. “Abortion is a matter of conscience on both sides of the debate,” Ms. DeLauro said. “This amendment takes away that same freedom of conscience from America’s women. It prohibits them from access to an abortion even if they pay for it with their own money. It invades women’s personal decisions.”

But Ms. DeGette, Ms. DeLauro and other defenders of abortion rights said they would nonetheless vote in favor of the health care bill and fight for changes in the final version, to be negotiated with the Senate.

The fight over abortion foreshadows difficult soul searching in the months ahead as Democratic lawmakers confront deepening divisions among their caucus on issues like abortion rights and gun control.

Through the 1980s, the Democrats struggled over abortion. But by the 1990s, the share of Americans supportive of abortion rights had grown. Democrats lost their majorities for 12 years, leaving the most liberal and pro-abortion rights members in office. As a result it seemed to fade as a public issue. Now, however, Democrats once again have a large and diverse House majority, with more members from conservative-leaning districts where anti-abortion rights groups are active.

It was that division that played out behind the scenes late last week, and into the weekend, and came powerfully in the open as the issue.

Click here to read the New York Times article in full.

US House backs healthcare reforms

From BBC News Online, 8 Nov 2009

The US House of Representatives has backed a healthcare bill in a step towards reforms promised by President Obama, despite strong opposition.

Passed in a narrow 220-215 vote, the bill aims to extend coverage to 36 million more Americans and provide affordable healthcare to 96%.

The Senate now has to pass its own bill and the two must then be reconciled before the programme can become law.

Mr Obama has made healthcare reform a central plank of his domestic agenda.

He described Saturday's vote in the House as "historic", saying he was "absolutely confident" the Senate would follow suit.

Correspondents say the legislation could lead to the biggest changes in American healthcare in decades.

Concessions

The bill was supported by 219 Democrats and one Republican - Joseph Cao from New Orleans. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

Mr Obama said: "The United States Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will, and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year."

The debate had sparked strong emotions on both sides.

Democratic Party representative John Dingell said: "[The bill] offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable healthcare when they need it."

But Republican representative Candice Miller said: "We are going to have a complete government takeover of our healthcare system faster than you can say `this is making me sick'."

Before Saturday's vote, Mr Obama had made a rare visit to Congress to try to persuade wavering members of his own Democratic Party to back the bill.

He said such opportunities came around "maybe once in a generation".

After the vote, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said: "I thank the president for his tremendous leadership, because without President Obama in the White House, this victory would not have been possible."

The bill will allow the government to sell insurance in competition with private companies and make insurers offer cover to those with pre-existing conditions.

However, the government-run healthcare programme - the so-called "public option" - was scaled back in the run-up to the vote.

One key concession to get the bill through was to anti-abortion legislators.

An amendment was passed that prohibits coverage for abortion in the government-run programme except for rape, incest or if the mother's life is threatened. Private plans can still offer the cover.

Republican Bart Stupak, who sponsored the amendment, said: "Let us stand together on principle - no public funding for abortions."

Abortion rights supporters said the amendment was the biggest setback to their cause in decades.

A Senate debate on healthcare reform is expected in the coming days.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid said after the House vote: "We realise the strong will for reform that exists, and we are energised that we stand closer than ever to reforming our broken health insurance system".

Obama's healthcare speech in the Congress

"We are the only democracy on Earth that allows such hardship for millions of its people".

From BBC News Online, 10 Sep 2009

"Madame Speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, and the American people:

When I spoke here last winter, this nation was facing the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. We were losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month, credit was frozen, and our financial system was on the verge of collapse.

As any American who is still looking for work or a way to pay their bills will tell you, we are by no means out of the woods. A full and vibrant recovery is still many months away. And I will not let up until those Americans who seek jobs can find them".

(CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL TEXT)

Barack Obama's battle to save US health care reform

Extract from an article by Toby Harnden in the Telegraph UK, 9 Sep 2009

The speech to Congress is seen as so important that it could make or break his presidency.

With Mr Obama's poll numbers slipping and public support for his health care overhaul eroding almost by the day, Senator Max Baucus, a fellow Democrat, drew up a compromise plan designed to appeal to centrists across the political divide.

Republicans have vigirously opposed a mooted extra tax burden on highers earners to pay for medical insurance for the poor. Under the new plan, non-profit co-operatives would be set up to compete with private health insurance companies.

This would replace the idea of introducing a so-called "public option" of government-run insurance, which is favoured by liberals.

The Baucus plan would cost about $900 billion (£550 billion) over 10 years - $100 billion less that the $1 trillion price tag on a previous House of Representatives proposal.

This would partly be achieved by raising $180 billion from taxing insurance companies that offer the most expensive packages.

[Click here for the full article]

Obama invokes grandmother's death in health care debate

Article from Japan Today, 16 August 2009

GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado — President Barack Obama has made it clear that his efforts to reform the U.S. health care system have meaning to him personally.

On Saturday, Obama invoked his own anguish over the death of a loved one as he challenged the notion that Democratic efforts to overhaul the nation’s health care would include “death panels” that decided who would get care and who wouldn’t.

“I just lost my grandmother last year. I know what it’s like to watch somebody you love, who’s aging, deteriorate and have to struggle with that,” an impassioned Obama told a crowd as he spoke of Madelyn Payne Dunham. He took issue with “the notion that somehow I ran for public office or members of Congress are in this so they can go around pulling the plug on grandma.”

“When you start making arguments like that, that’s simply dishonest—especially when I hear the arguments coming from members of Congress in the other party who, turns out, sponsored similar provisions,” Obama said.

Reforming the U.S. health care system is Obama’s top domestic priority and arguably his most challenging political fight yet as president, in no small part because of the vast number of diverse stake-holders involved.

His goal is to ensure health care for everyone in a country with the world’s costliest system and an estimated 48 million uninsured people.

It’s an issue that touches everyone in the United States. There are thickets of competing interests among patients, doctors, drug makers, insurers, labor, businesses and others.

Any plan must get through a Democratic-controlled Congress, where most lawmakers are up for re-election next year. Also, there’s an ideological fault line between Democrats and Republicans, and liberals and conservatives over the level of government involvement in health care.

In a debate in which he often sounds professor-like, Obama on Saturday spoke with a rare bit of emotion that seemed to counter that of vocal health care opponents as he referenced the beloved grandmother who helped raise him and who he called “Toot.”

She died of cancer at age 86 on Nov 2, two days before he won election to become the nation’s first African-American president.

He talked about her death while answering a question about misinformation being spread about Democratic health care efforts during a town hall style gathering in a high school gymnasium.

“Health care is really hard. This is not easy. I’m a reasonably dedicated student to this issue. I’ve got a lot of really smart people around me who’ve been working on this for months now,” he said. “There is no perfect painless silver bullet out there that solves every problem, gives everybody health care for free. There isn’t. I wish there was.”

But he said that because there’s no perfect solution to solving health care, opponents “start saying things like we want to set up death panels to pull the plug on grandma.”

Obama reiterated his contention that the Democratic health care legislation would not create “death panels” to deny care to frail seniors. Obama has explained that the provision that has caused the uproar would only authorize Medicare to pay doctors for counseling patients about end-of-life care, living wills, hospice care and other issues, if the patient wants it.

Conservatives have called end-of-life counseling in government health care programs like Medicare a step toward euthanasia and former Alaska Gov Sarah Palin has likened the idea to a bureaucratic “death panel” that would decide whether sick people get to live. Those claims have been widely discredited but the issue remains a political weapon in the increasingly bitter health care debate.

Over the past week, Obama has fielded questions from audiences in New Hampshire, and Montana, as well as in Grand Junction. Thus far, he’s faced polite crowds, a stark contrast to the taunts and jeers that Democratic lawmakers have endured at similar sessions during their August break.

Much like in the campaign, Obama’s using people’s stories to illustrate his points, railing against interest groups and asking supporters to “rise to this moment.”

In Grand Junction, he sounded much like a candidate again as he adapted a campaign theme.

He likened the health care effort to policy fights that led to Social Security and Medicare system. “These struggles have always boiled down to a contest between hope and fear,” Obama said—a talking point of his candidacy. “So if you want a different future, if you want a brighter future. I need your help.”

[Click here for the original article]

Obama attacks insurance premiums

Extract from BBC News, 16 August 2009

US President Barack Obama has stepped up his drive for healthcare reform, attacking excessive premiums charged by insurance companies.

Speaking in Colorado, Mr Obama said that under his plan companies would not be allowed to charge exorbitant fees nor place arbitrary limits on coverage.

Mr Obama is making a series of "town-hall" speeches to back his campaign.

Extending coverage to the millions of Americans who lack health insurance is Mr Obama's top priority for 2009.

His reform plan is currently under debate in the US Congress.

Some 46 million people in America currently do not have health insurance, and rising healthcare costs are a major contributing factor to America's spiralling budget deficit.

'No silver bullet'

Mr Obama said insurance companies had to be held accountable for practices that had led to premiums nearly doubling for the average American family over the past few years.

HEALTHCARE IN THE US

46 million uninsured, 25 million under-insured

Healthcare costs represent 16% of GDP, almost twice OECD average

Reform plans would require all Americans to get insurance

Some propose public insurance option to compete with private insurers

He said: "We're going to ban arbitrary caps on benefits. We'll place limits on how much you can charge on out-of-pocket expenses. No-one in America should go broke because they get sick."

Mr Obama admitted there was "no perfect painless silver bullet out there that solves every problem, gives everybody healthcare for free".

But he said he had "a lot of really smart people around me who've been working on this for months now".

Mr Obama also accused his political opponents of using scare tactics in their campaign against the reform.

He added: "I need you to stand for hope. I need you to knock on doors. I need you to spread the word. Because we are going to get this done this year."

[Read the article in full here]

Obama's priorities for 2009

Extract from an article by Max Deveson, BBC News online, 5 Jan 2009

Barack Obama enters the White House this month with a wide-ranging agenda for change.
The BBC's Max Deveson considers which issues he is likely to tackle head on - and which he may be tempted to put to one side:

Economic stimulus
Healthcare reform
Climate change
Iraq/Afghanistan
Closing Guantanamo
Engaging with the world
Labour relations
Backburner issues

Read the whole article here.

Obama 'plans Daschle health post'

From BBC News, 19 November 2008

"US President-elect Barack Obama will appoint senior Democrat Tom Daschle as Health and Human Services Secretary, according to US media reports.

Mr Daschle was the Democrats' Senate Majority Leader from 2001 until 2003.
As head of the health and human services department, Mr Daschle will oversee Mr Obama's proposed reforms to the US healthcare system.
Mr Obama's transition team has confirmed a number of other key advisers and top administration posts.

Senate heavyweight

The BBC's Adam Brookes, in Washington, says the decision to appoint Mr Daschle shows that Mr Obama feels he needs a Senate heavyweight to help him persuade Congress to back major reforms.

During the election campaign, Mr Obama pledged to offer a new state-administered health insurance plan to people who are currently uninsured, while assuring people who were satisfied with their existing employer-provided coverage that they would not be forced to give it up.
The details of his reform package could change, however, as Mr Obama attempts to push legislation through Congress.

The news of Mr Daschle's probable appointment follows reports that Mr Obama has decided to appoint Eric Holder as his attorney-general, and may ask former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination Hillary Clinton to serve as secretary of state".