White House Stresses Agreement with GOP at Health Care Summit

Speaking on behalf of the White House during the summit's intermission, Douglass highlighted the summit's success by noting the large commonalities between most Democrats and Republicans on health care legislation.

"You heard them talking about how there have to be pools for small businesses to band together to buy coverage which lowers cost, you heard how they agree, the Republicans and Democrats, that there has to be a crackdown on waste, fraud and abuse in public health care spending," Douglass said.

"You heard them talk about how they agree that there got to be emphasis on prevention and wellness on our healthcare system," she continued. "They talked about selling insurance across state lines, there was agreement there."

However, she also noted areas where disagreement persists.

"The president believes that there should be a minimum level of benefits that consumers can count on when they buy health insurance so that they know their actually covered," she said, but added that the Republican "colleagues at the table didn't necessarily agree on that."

Douglass was referring to government-based "exchanges" where individuals or small companies could band together to have more pulling power to bring costs down. Though Democrats have largely championed a "minimum level of benefits" in these exchanges, the two bills that have passed Congress do this differently. The House bill calls for a federal exchange while the Senate bill would set up state-based exchanges.

Republicans instead call for setting up "association health plans." Although similar to the Democrat proposal, these would not have to meet any government-mandated, minimum requirements, but associations could decide what they wanted to pay for.

Douglas was asked whether the health care summit was a display of real reform or just politics as usual?"

"There is no question that the president is aiming for results," she said. "And what you heard this morning is a real discussion on where the areas of agreement are, where we could find some way to bring the Republicans into this effort to try to bring relief to the American people."

Watch the interview with Douglass above, or watch the whole special edition of "Washington Unplugged" below, which also includes CBS News' Mark Knoller, Politico's Mike Allen, the Washington Post's editorial writer Marc Thiessen andRepublican Rep. Bill Cassidy.

More Coverage of the Health Care Summit:

Live Blog: Hotsheet Tracked the Whole Summit Point by Counterpoint
Marc Ambinder: The Summit was a Tie -- And That's Good News for GOP
Reaction and Analysis on Washington Unplugged
Fact Check: The Health Care Summit
Obama Urges Republicans to Do Some "Soul Searching"
Obama: Americans Aren't "Sultans" Who Can Afford Great Health Coverage
Few Women at Health Care Summit
Obama to McCain: "The Election's Over"
All Hotsheet Coverage