Obama Weighs Major Speech on Health Care

(AP)  President Barack Obama is thinking of throwing more details and personal weight into the debate about a major overhaul of the American health care system, which polls indicate Republicans have been winning in recent weeks.

Faced with falling approval ratings and increasingly impatient with Senate negotiations, Mr. Obama is considering a speech in the next week or so in which he would be "more prescriptive" about what he feels Congress must include in a health bill, top adviser David Axelrod said Tuesday in an interview. Unlike all other wealthy nations, the United States does not have universal health care.

The speech might occur before the Sept. 15 deadline the White House gave Senate negotiators to seek a bipartisan bill, Axelrod said. He suggested that two key Republicans have not bargained in good faith.

Congress reconvenes next Tuesday after an August recess in which critics of Mr. Obama's health proposals dominated many public forums.

Some Obama allies feel he gave too much leeway to Congress, where one bill has passed three House of Representatives committees, another has passed a Senate committee and a third has been bogged down in protracted negotiations in the Senate Finance Committee.

Axelrod indicated that Mr. Obama would not offer new proposals but would be more specific about his top priorities.

"The ideas are all there on the table," Axelrod said. "Now we are in a new phase, and it's time to pull the strands of these together."

He said there is serious discussion in the White House of Mr. Obama "giving a speech that lays out in specific ways what he thinks" about the essential elements of a health care bill.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

Axelrod said it was possible that the speech could occur before a planned Sept. 15 Obama address on health care in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Obama has called for innovations such as a public health insurance plan to compete with private insurers, but he has not insisted on it. It was not clear Tuesday the degree to which he might press for various proposals in a new speech.

Mr. Obama also plans to meet with Democratic congressional leaders when lawmakers reconvene next week.

Axelrod condemned recent comments by two chief Senate Republican negotiators - Charles Grassley and Mike Enzi - who have sharply criticized key elements of Democrats' health care plans even as they insisted that a workable bipartisan plan was possible.

Their remarks, Axelrod said, "were not exactly consistent with good-faith negotiations."

In an August fundraising letter, Grassley asked people for "support in helping me defeat Obama-care." He said Democratic-drafted bills would be "a pathway to a government takeover of the health care system."

Mark Knoller: Obama Up Against Ideology More than Specificity

Enzi, in a radio address Saturday, said Democratic proposals would restrict medical choices and make the country's "finances sicker without saving you money."

The two men are part of a six-senator, bipartisan negotiating team that also includes Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. Hopes for a workable bipartisan plan have dimmed in recent weeks, and Axelrod's comments were the most dismissive yet from a White House official.

Congress' August recess was brutal for Mr. Obama and his allies, as lawmakers faced raucous crowds denouncing Democrats' health proposals. When Congress comes back Tuesday, Democratic leaders hope to change the dynamic by holding quiet, closed-door sessions with nervous colleagues and arguing that far-reaching health care changes can be good politics as well as good policy.

CBS News Poll: More Wary of Obama on Health Care
CBS News Poll: Two-Thirds Confused by Health Reform

They also hope Republican-led opposition has peaked. But that's far from clear, and Republicans are eager to hand Mr. Obama his first major defeat.

A new CNN/Opinion Research poll found that 53 percent of Americans disapproved of Obama's handling of health care, while 44 percent approved. In March, far more people had approved than disapproved.

Liberal groups have held hundreds of events in a bid to show that a robust overhaul is more popular than August's news reports would suggest.

The message lawmakers will hear when they return to Washington "will be very different than what they heard when August started," said Jacki Schechner of Health Care for America Now. One idea her group will stress, she said, is that the politically smart vote, even in toss-up districts, will support widespread changes meant to expand health insurance coverage and options.

Some Democrats say congressional leaders will have to trim more costs from the health bills even though it would antagonize liberals and make it harder to cover uninsured people, one of Mr. Obama's top goals.

"That's the kind of thing we're going to look at," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, a member of the leadership who is tasked with getting his colleagues re-elected.

Republicans approach the coming legislative session feeling upbeat about the ground they gained during the August recess. Some are confident that no amount of closed-door hand-holding of nervous Democratic lawmakers will reverse the momentum.

"After a disastrous month at home, the fact that Democrats' new health care strategy is to hide in Washington from the people who elected them to get health care passed shows what bad shape they're in," said Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman for House Republican leader John Boehner.

[devilfly1]

Highmark Inc. is a $5 billion health insurance company created from the consolidation of Blue Cross of Western Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania Blue Shield. The company contracted with KPMG Consulting Inc. to create an electronic billing and accounts-receivable system. Highmark claims that KPMG abandoned the two-year, $12 million project after it missed deadlines and experienced cost overruns from mistakes. Highmark claims KPMG was more than a year behind schedule and attempted to charge an additional $8 million to complete the first phase of the project. KPMG spokesman John Schneidawind responded that "We've been able to deliver on our part of the project, but through much of the engagement, Highmark hasn't done its part to ensure a successful implementation of the payment system on time and on budget." Highmark claims that KPMG failed to "satisfactorily" complete the database design detailed application architecture, and software design specifications. Consequently, developers began coding even through the design was not stabile. Highmark states that KPMG admitted that "much of the coding work performed during the summer of 2000 was useless and would have to be redone," which would result in 8,000 additional hours of development time.


Sources: Adapted from Lucas Mearian, "Insurer Sues, Claims KPMG Mismanaged Billing Project, Computerworld, November 12,2001 and Lucas Merain, "Highmark sues KPMG over Failed IT Project," Computerworld, November 7, 2001


What do you think of Reality Bytes?

I did my homework. Paid?

[reveal5]

Hungry... Time will tell. Time will tell.

[hungry1968-16]

by reveal5 September 2, 2009 4:38 PM EDT
Mortarman, one last thing...what is the name of the nonprofit watchdog organization that your wife works with that inspects VA facilities? This would be very helpful in gaining a more thorough perspective.






Hold on reveal -- he has to google it to find out if such a group exists, and then find out the name of the company so that he knows which company his wife allegedly works for.

[hungry1968-16]

by Mortarman29 September 2, 2009 4:30 PM EDT
My wife can speak for the VA though, as she works for a nonprofit watchdog group that is in the business of inspecting the VA and its hospitals on behalf of paralyzed veterans. So, since she IS an expert and yo uare not, I will go with what she says and what she and her people have found.







You said that you and your wife were co-owners of a business, for many years.

This is at least the 4th or 5th lie that you've been caught in, regarding your life and what you allegedly do.

[reveal5]

Mortarman, one last thing...what is the name of the nonprofit watchdog organization that your wife works with that inspects VA facilities? This would be very helpful in gaining a more thorough perspective.

[rhs648]

hungry1968-16

If all congress did was to eliminate preexisting conditions in health insurance policies, that would be enough reform to satisfy a lot of people.


And what would the result of that be?

The insurance companies would cry, "It's going to cost us too much money!!" and then they'd TRIPLE the cost of the premiums that we pay.

Do you REALLY think they are going to eat a loss like that, and not pass it on?

You conservatives really need to think things out before you regurgitate the Fox News stupidity.


And what would the result of that be?

The insurance companies would cry, "It's going to cost us too much money!!" and then they'd TRIPLE the cost of the premiums that we pay.

Do you REALLY think they are going to eat a loss like that, and not pass it on?

You conservatives really need to think things out before you regurgitate the Fox News stupidity.

-------------------------------

Thank you Hungray for admitting that having to insure people with preexisting conditions or prior problems would mean insurance companies would have to eat a loss. If that is true of insurance companies, that would be true of a government sponsored health insurance program. The taxpayers would, in effect, take the losses. Hopefully, you can now see why insurance companies have prexistin conditions clauses in their contracts. If you don't, why not force auto makers to sell cars at a loss. Why not refrigerator manufacturers? Thank you Hungary.

[novamba]

Neither republicans nor democrats care what happens to us. They care about staying in power while giving the impression of caring enough so that we keep them in power to fatten their pockets.. Unversal health care is fine if we as americans are ok with having to pay 50 to 60% in taxes as most of those European countries that offer universal health care collect.

[hungry1968-16]

But if by a 'liberal' they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a 'liberal' then I'm proud to say I'm a 'liberal.'" -- Ted Kennedy

[Mortarman29]

He is quoting Ted Kennedy!!!! LOL!

[Questionews]

I see that many on the left are failing to address the Democrats that are not "going along with the program"? They're the ones that are keeping the bill from being voted on. If Dems could come together just this once to pass this legislation the arguement would be over. You can blame Repubs until you're blue in the face, but Repubs are the opposition so I can understand their resistance-political reasons I'm sure. Dems are the ones that are preventing a vote because they know they don't have the numbers within their own party. Now that the polls are turning against health care reform it's even less likely that these "Blue Dogs" are going to change their minds-political reasons I'm sure. It sure doesn't seem that the Democrats are talking advantage of their majority right now and those opportunities don't come too often. Too bad, because that window could close if the public views them as dysfunctional. If you're going to blamestorm at least aim a little better than the side of a barn.

[reveal5]

Actually, the tide is beginning to turn. Democrats are not gonna keep playing to the Republicans if the Republicans are not going to support reform. Also, the public is beginning to wake up to the lies, paranoia, hysteria, and general peculiarity of the "Tea Party" crowd. The public is now beginning to learn more of how reform will help the average American. The public is beginning to now realize that Medicare seniors are the most socialistically subsidized group in America and that these seniors are hollering the loudest about "standing on your own two feet" while receiving almost 3 times more from Medicare than these seniors paid into Medicare. The public will understand more as the next couple of months go along. The public will do what is in the public's best interest...support reform. And the fringe will do what the fringe does best...show that they need psychological help.

[woeisme1]

Boy I'll tell you, the republicans know no limit to their hypocisy.

While they sit on these boards spouting off their mis-information campaign and deranged ideology. While they sit here and tell us how great their party is, Republican Governor of Minnesota, Bobby Jindahl is found to have mis-appropiated taxpayer money (lot's of it) to take a trip to Louisiana for personal business. Was'nt he the one a couple of weeks ago claiming that democrats were wasteful with tax dollars???????

Oh the hypocrisy of the republicans should drive them into seclusion out of shear embarrassment alone!

Oh and this is the best part . Jindahl mis-appropiated that money to do what? To fly to Louisiana to attend CHURCH!

Typical....just typical and arrogant republican hypocrisy!! And we should believe anything they tell us? Right. Hold your breath republicans.

[hungry1968-16]

Actually he's the governor of Louisiana, and he flew all around the state over 5 months to attend different church services around the state.

But this is also the guy that complained and whined about the stimulus money, and 2 months later he bragged and patted himself on the back about how much stimulus money he was able to secure for the state's construction projects.

Hypocrisy doesn't even begin to describe conservatives!! They are so much worse than simple "hypocrites"!!

Just look at Mortar!