Obama’s Pitch: ‘Health Insurance Reform’
22 July 2009 8:07 pm by Taylor Marsh
–updated–
Right off the top, Pres. Obama offered a new framing: health insurance reform.
Then he went straight at the conservatives in both parties: “If we do not control these costs, we will not be able to control the deficit.” Pledging again that “health insurance reform” won’t add to the U.S. debt.
The next hit on “Washington,” that amorphous enemy that Pres. Obama wants to make everyone’s enemy.
Before questioning began, Obama reminded everyone that he has great insurance, as does “every member of Congress.”
Oh, and I just saw that the WH disclosed health-care execs’ visits right before the presser.
To add, Fred Hiatt talked to Obama by phone before the presser. Here’s an excerpt on the costs going forward, where Obama mentions Social Security:
Hiatt: CBO and other economists say that, as you say, you can’t solve the fiscal problem if you don’t solve the health problem. But they also say that solving the health cost problem is not sufficient, that a big part of the issue is demographics and aging. And so — and as you know, the 10-year budget shows the government raising 18 or 19 percent of revenue in 2019, and spending 24 or 25 percent –
Obama: We have a structural gap that has to be closed.
Hiatt: So can I ask you how you think about the timing and politics of closing that structural gap?
Obama: What I think has to happen is if we can show that we have a disciplined health care reform package that is serious about cost savings and is deficit-neutral, you combine that with the pay-go rules that we have been promoting and I believe that we can get through Congress, and you are imposing some discipline on the appropriations process — and I thought that the F-22 victory yesterday was a good example of us starting to change habits in Washington — then I think we’re in a position to be able to, either at the end of this year or early next year, start laying out a broader picture about how we are going to handle entitlements in a serious way.
It may start with Social Security because that’s, frankly, the easier one. And I think that it’s possible to also look at tax reform and think about are there ways that we can maybe even lower marginal rates but eliminate all the loopholes and have that a net revenue generator. I think there are going to be a bunch of things that we can take a look at, but I think health care reform combined with pay-go, combined with how we deal with appropriations bills over the next six months will help lay the foundation for us to be able to make some of these broader structural changes.
