Obama Claims He Never Promised Public Option, Not True!...Here's Proof!

Obama Tries To Distance Himself From The Public Option


Now that the Senate has firmly rejected the public option, President Obama is trying his darnedest to distance himself from the controversial, and failed, proposal. But that may be harder than he thought.

In an American Urban Radio interview yesterday, he said, "this is not the most important aspect of this bill." And today he told The Washington Post, "I didn't campaign on the public option."

But that's not true. In a campaign position paper on health care, Obama mentions the public plan eight times. The Obama-Biden campaign wrote:


Through the Exchange, any American will have the opportunity to enroll in the new public plan or an approved private plan, and income-based sliding scale tax credits will be provided for people and families who need it. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and meet the same standards for quality and efficiency. Insurers would be required to justify an above-average premium increase to the Exchange. (h/t: Think Progress)

Candidate Obama also signed on to the principles set down by the Progressive group Health Care for America Now, the biggest proponent of a government-run plan. Those principles included support for a Public Option:

Everyone gets a choice of health insurance plans, including the right to keep your current insurance, choose another private plan or to join a public health insurance plan.

And while it's true that reform will include many of the reforms he ran on, it's not accurate for the president to claim he didn't run on passing a Public Option.








Obama Repeatedly Touted Public Option Before Refusing To Push For It In The Final Hours


In recent days, there has been an uproar in the progressive community over the Senate’s decision to drop the public option from its health care bill in order to reach the crucial 60 votes needed to break a filibuster. Given that many liberals backed a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system, the public option was seen as a political compromise.

“I didn’t campaign on the Public Option,” President Obama told the Washington Post. But he touted the public option on his campaign website and spoke frequently in support of it during the first year of his presidency, citing its essential value in holding the private insurance industry accountable and providing competition:

– In the 2008 Obama-Biden health care plan on the campaign’s website, candidate Obama promised that “any American will have the opportunity to enroll in [a] new public plan.” [2008]

– During a speech at the American Medical Association, President Obama told thousands of doctors that one of the plans included in the new health insurance exchanges “needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market.” [6/15/09]

– While speaking to the nation during his weekly address, the President said that “any plan” he signs “must include…a Public Option.” [7/17/09]

– During a conference call with Progressive Bloggers, the President said he continues “to believe that a robust public option would be the best way to go.” [7/20/09]

– Obama told NBC’s David Gregory that a public option “should be a part of this [health care bill],” while rebuking claims that the plan was “dead.” [9/20/09]

Despite all this overt advocacy for the public option, it appears that Obama was reticent to apply the political pressure necessary to get the plan in the final hours of congressional negotiation. Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) — who threatened to filibuster the creation of any new public plan or expansion of Medicare — told the Huffington Post that he “didn’t really have direct input from the White House” on the public option and was never specifically asked to support it.

Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), one of the most ardent backers of public insurance, blamed the demise of the public option on a “lack of support from the administration.” Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) — perhaps the most visible defender of the public option in the entire health care debate — went even further, saying that Obama’s lack of support for congressional progressives amounted to him being “half-pregnant” with the health insurance and drug industries.

Update "All I'll say, I was surprised to hear this because I had assumed all along that the White House was pushing strongly for the public option," Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said. "I just assumed that."

Update In response to a questionnaire from the Washington Post, then-candidate Obama said, “My plan builds on and improves our current insurance system, which most Americans continue to rely upon, and creates a new public health plan for those currently without coverage.”


Sources: Politico, Think Progress, Washington Post, Health Care For American Now, AP, Whitehouse.gov, Youtube

AARP & AMA Endorse Pres. Obama's Health Care Insurance Reform Bill

Pres. Obama: Pleased for AARP, AMA support. President Obama speaks to reporters at a White House briefing about the AARP and AMA throwing their support behind the House health care bill.

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Sources: MSNBC

AMA Doctors Endorse House Democrats' Health Care Reform Bill

The Hill----

The American Medical Association (AMA), which helped torpedo the Clinton administration’s effort to revamp the nation’s healthcare system 15 years ago, endorsed the House Democrats’ health bill on Thursday.

President Obama touted the physician group’s move, saying “these doctors are joining the chorus of Americans who know that the time to reform what is broken about the healthcare system is now.”


Despite the high-profile endorsement, cost issues continue to hamper efforts to pass healthcare reform. On Thursday, Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf said that bills in both chambers would increase long-term federal spending on healthcare. Obama has stressed that a reform bill must rein in exploding healthcare costs.

Obama, who lashed out at special interest groups throughout his presidential campaign, has worked closely with congressional Democrats to court powerful healthcare groups over the last several months.

Obama and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill are mindful of the fact that Clinton and every other leader who ever tried to fix the healthcare system by taking dead aim at powerful groups in the sector has fallen short.

Based on those lessons learned — which, as Obama likes to say, date back to Teddy Roosevelt — this time, Democrats have taken a different tack: Having physicians, hospitals, drug makers, insurance companies and other big-time players at the negotiating table for as long as possible.

Despite the myriad obstacles that remain to enactment of healthcare reform this year, the support of such a group as powerful as the AMA can only be seen as a positive sign for Democrats.

In a show of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) excitement about AMA’s move, her office on Thursday issued a “breaking news” e-mail about the endorsement.

Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), who is the main sponsor of the health bill, said that “AMA’s support should not be underestimated. Quite honestly, it has been difficult to win the support of this organization going all the way back to the 1930s.”

For the healthcare groups, cozying up to Democrats or even taking the eyebrow-raising step of offering a public endorsement provides them with additional leverage as they lobby for or against portions of the bill.

The healthcare industry, too, recognizes that healthcare reform done the right way could mean access to a large, unserved market: the 47 million people who have no health insurance

The White House and congressional Democrats have also wooed the powerful seniors’ group AARP. An endorsement from that organization, which represents 35 million members from a highly motivated voting bloc, would be a huge boost to the Democrats. The AARP’s endorsement of President Bush’s Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 was essential to its eventual passage.

Meanwhile, big business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have come out hard against major components of the Democrats’ healthcare provisions, such as a requirement that most employers offer health benefits or the creation of a government-run insurance plan.

Healthcare groups, however, have remained active participants in the Democrats’ process — even as their criticisms on specific issues have sharpened in recent weeks — much to the chagrin of their traditional allies in the Republican Party.

Instead, these would-be foes of reform have been spending money on advertising campaigns expressing general support for healthcare reform.

“Harry and Louise,” the fictitious middle-class couple who appeared in insurance industry ads that proved deadly to Clinton’s reform effort, are now appearing in a campaign funded by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) and the liberal consumer group Families USA.

Yet on issues ranging from creating a government-run insurance plan to increasing the availability of generic prescription drugs to establishing tough limits on Medicare payments to providers, healthcare reform provides interest groups with innumerable reasons for opposition.

PhRMA this week issued a statement saying it “cannot support” opposing the House healthcare bill, which would lower what Medicare pays for medicines. The group added that “we believe that patient-centered healthcare reform is still on the right track to becoming law.”

The AARP said it was “pleased by the House TriCommittee’s healthcare reform bill” in one statement, but another cautioned Democratic senators that the bill approved by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee did not go far enough in easing access to cheaper copies of complex biologic drugs. Such drugs are made from living organisms and have been increasingly important to the practice of medicine.

With the House bill making its way toward a floor vote in less than two weeks and one Senate committee completing work on its portion of the upper chamber’s legislation, interest groups are sure to peel off. Obama and congressional Democrats are hoping to put that day off as long as possible.

Apart from the AMA and the American Nurses Association, no other healthcare interest group has endorsed any bills — indeed, some may indefinitely stay on the sidelines — but at a minimum, Democrats have postponed the kind of anti-healthcare-reform onslaught from interest groups that played a key role in crushing Clinton’s initiative.

Though not conclusive pending the shape of whatever final healthcare bill the House and Senate may send to Obama, the AMA’s endorsement is the best evidence yet that the president and his allies on Capitol Hill chose the right approach to dealing with their potential enemies by keeping them close.

AMA is not the first healthcare interest group to stand beside Obama or come to agreements with congressional Democrats on reform, though other groups have withheld their explicit support for the Democrats’ entire platform.

Most recently, the American Hospital Association (AHA) and two other hospital groups appeared at the White House with Vice President Biden to announce an agreement under which the hospitals would not fight $155 billion in proposed cuts in their Medicare and Medicaid funding.

Before the hospitals, it was PhRMA promising Obama and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that they would provide discounted drugs to Medicare beneficiaries and agree to budget cuts that combined are valued at $80 billion. Notably, AARP CEO Barry Rand spoke at the White House press conference announcing the agreement. Rand also appeared in Alexandria, Va. at a healthcare reform event on Thursday with Biden, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and White House health adviser Nancy-Ann DeParle.

The AMA-endorsed House bill would enact the group’s foremost priority: a permanent fix to a Medicare payment system that annually calls for doctors fees to be cut. The Senate does not appear poised to follow suit, making an enthusiastic AMA endorsement of its bill less likely.

For the hospitals, the opposite is true. The Senate bill being drafted is understood to track closely with what the White House wants, while the House measure does not. PhRMA is in a similar situation as the hospitals.



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Sources: The Hill, Day Life, Wikipedia, Google Maps

AMA Supports Pres. Obama's Public Option Health Care Plan

CNN----

The New president of the American Medical Association, which represents the interests of the nation’s doctors, said Wednesday the group is open to a government-funded health insurance option for people without coverage.

Dr. J. James Rohack told CNN that the AMA supports an “American model” that includes both “a private system and a public system, working together.”

In May, the AMA told a Senate committee it did not support a government-sponsored public health insurance option.

“The AMA does not believe that creating a public health insurance option … is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs across the health care system,” the organization wrote, explaining that a public insurance plan could lead to “an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers.”

Rohack, who recently became AMA president, suggested Wednesday that the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program available to Congress members and other federal employees could be expanded as a public option. That would avoid having to create a new program from scratch, he said.

“If it’s good enough for Congress, why shouldn’t it be good enough for individuals who don’t have health insurance provided by their employers?” Rohack said.

He said AMA opposed expanding Medicare coverage for senior citizens into a broader general public plan, noting that the plan is “going broke” and fails to cover the costs of participating doctors.

His comments come as President Barack Obama increases pressure on Congress to push through a comprehensive bill to reform the nation’s ailing health care system this year.

Obama told a town hall meeting on health care Wednesday that the rising costs of health care threatened the economy and were unsustainable. He also noted that health-related industries including drug companies were now acknowledging the need for reform.

Rohack called 2009 “the year we need to have affordable health insurance coverage for all Americans.”

He said a reformed system must include access for everyone, the freedom to choose your doctor, and the freedom for doctors to provide the best possible care.

Rohack also called for efficiency measures such as electronic record-keeping to reduce administrative costs, as well as protection for doctors from excessive malpractice lawsuits.

The 162-year-old AMA has about 250,000 members, including practicing physicians along with medical students and retired doctors. Overall, there are more than 900,000 doctors in the United States.

Obama recently delivered a major health care policy speech at the AMA’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Sources: CNN, Huffington Post, Wikipedia, Whitehouse.gov

Pres. Obama Tauts Public Health Care Option At Chicago AMA Gathering

Huffington Post----

President Obama walked into the lion's den on Monday, delivering a lengthy speech on his approach to health care reform in front of the annual gathering of the American Medical Association. But he did not dodge the major issue of contention -- the role the government will play in remaking the insurance market.

"The public option is not your enemy, it is your friend," Obama declared at one point.

His prepared remarks were a bit more detailed:

"If you don't like your health coverage or don't have any insurance, you will have a chance to take part in what we're calling a Health Insurance Exchange.... You will have your choice of a number of plans that offer a few different packages, but every plan would offer an affordable, basic package. And one of these options needs to be a public option that will give people a broader range of choices and inject competition into the health care market so that force waste out of the system and keep the insurance companies honest."

The crowd, comprised of members of the nation's largest physician community, received those remarks with slightly less enthusiasm than other points of the president's lengthy address, including Obama's insistence that insurance companies cover pre-existing conditions, his nod towards the need for medical malpractice reform, and his touting of legislation that would discourage smoking among the nation's youth.

But the discussion of the public plan didn't end there.

"Now, I know there's some concern about a public option," Obama declared. "In particular, I understand that you are concerned that today's Medicare rates will be applied broadly in a way that means our cost savings are coming off your backs. These are legitimate concerns, but ones, I believe, that can be overcome. As I stated earlier, the reforms we propose are to reward best practices, focus on patient care, not the current piece-work reimbursement. What we seek is more stability and a health care system on a sound financial footing. And these reforms need to take place regardless of what happens with a public option..."

The comments about a public option were some of the most widely anticipated of Obama's address. One week earlier, the AMA had expressed its opposition to a public plan before gently backing off their initial critiques. The concerns among its 250,000 physician members are over salary cuts and administrative requirements that could come with greater government involvement in the insurance industry.

There is also a general fear that a public option could be a gateway toward a single-payer system, something that the President dismissed during Monday's speech.

"What are not legitimate concerns are those being put forward claiming a public option is somehow a Trojan horse for a single-payer system," he said. I'll be honest. There are countries where a single-payer system may be working. But I believe -- and I've even taken some flak from members of my own party for this belief -- that it is important for us to build on our traditions here in the United States. So, when you hear the naysayers claim that I'm trying to bring about government-run health care, know this -- they are not telling the truth."

There is some confusion over just what kind of public plan AMA could support, but for those intricately involved in the health care fight, it seems likely to that the plan would have to be vastly watered-down.

"If a public plan is designed so as to satisfy the AMA, it is very unlikely to be able to serve the general aims of long-term cost containment," said Paul Starr, a Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton University. "The AMA won't just want guarantees of higher rates than Medicare in the short run; it will want protection against the potential that a large public plan could enroll the great majority of people and exercise the kind of countervailing power in the market that would greatly restrain physician fees in the future."

That said, there is a bit more optimism today than last week that the White House could eventually win over the group's support.

"My wife read what the AMA clarifying statement was and neither one of us had an objection," former Gov. Howard Dean, told the Huffington Post. "There wasn't much in there. It did not say we opposed the public option. It did say the public option should have certain aspects in it that don't hurt the practice of medicine. That is something I understand. The American Medical Association is straddling a very difficult line."


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Sources: Huffington Post, Flickr, Google Maps

Will Pres. Obama Be Able To Sell His Health Care Reform Plan To AMA Doctors?

Huffington Post----

President Barack Obama, continuing to brainstorm for his health care proposals, will urge doctors gathered in Chicago to support wider insurance coverage and targeted federal spending cuts.

Obama planned to tell the American Medical Association's annual meeting in his hometown on Monday that overhaul cannot wait and that bringing down costs is the most important thing he can do to ensure the country's long-term fiscal health, a senior administration official said.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's remarks before they were delivered.

The nation's doctors, like many other groups, are divided over the president's proposals to reshape the health care delivery system. The White House anticipates heavy spending to cover the almost 50 million Americans who lack health insurance and has taken steps in recent days to outline just where that money could be found.

For instance, Obama wants to cut federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion and cut $313 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over 10 years. He also is proposing a $635 billion "down payment" in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system.

To an audience of doctors Obama plans to say the United States spends too much on health care and gets too little in return. He says the health industry is crushing businesses and families and is leading to millions of Americans losing coverage, the administration official said.

Obama's turn before the 250,000-physician group in his latest effort to persuade skeptics that his goal to provide health care to all Americans is worth the $1 trillion price tag it is expected to run during its first decade.

The president plans to acknowledge the costs. But he also will tell the doctors it is not acceptable for the nation to leave so many without insurance, the official said.

Unified Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill have said they are nervous about how the administration plans to pay for Obama's ideas.

There have been indications Obama has been quietly making a case for reducing malpractice lawsuits to help control costs, long a goal of the AMA and Republicans. Obama has not endorsed capping jury awards

Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Monday that controlling the cost of malpractice insurance would have to be a part of the Obama administration's overhaul of the health care system.

Daschle, whose nomination for secretary of health and human resources was derailed because of questions about his personal finances, said much of the unnecessary annual health care cost can be attributed to doctors ordering extra tests and taking extra precautions to make sure "they aren't sued."

Obama has been speaking privately with lawmakers about his ideas and publicly with audiences, such as a town hall style meeting last week in Green Bay, Wis. Obama and his administration officials have blanketed the nation in support of his broad ideas, and Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday said it's up to Congress to pin down the details on how to pay for them.

"They're either going to have to agree with us, come up with an alternative or we're not going to have health care," Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"And we're going to get health care."

In Chicago, the president's remarks are likely to focus on how his ideas might affect the medical profession.

His proposed cuts in federal payments would hit hospitals more directly than doctors, but physicians will be affected by virtually every change that Congress eventually agrees to. Many medical professionals are not yet convinced Obama's overhaul is the best for their care or their pocketbooks.

Broadly, the AMA supports a health care "reform" _ a term that changes its definition based on who is speaking _ although the specifics remain unclear.

In a statement welcoming Obama, AMA president Dr. Nancy Nielsen said the medical profession wants to "reduce unnecessary costs by focusing on quality improvements, such as developing best practices for care and improving medication reconciliation."

She also said doctors need greater protection from malpractice lawsuits and antitrust restrictions.

Many congressional Republicans, insurance groups and others oppose Obama's bid for a government-run health insurance program that would compete with private companies. On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described a government plan as a "nonstarter."

"There are a whole lot of other things we can agree to do on a bipartisan basis that will dramatically improve our system," he said.

To that end, lawmakers were considering a possible compromise that involved a cooperative program that would enjoy taxpayer support without direct governmental control. The concessions could be the smoothest way to deliver the bipartisan health care legislation the administration seeks by its self-imposed August deadline, officials said.

"There is no one-size-fits-all idea," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

"The president has said, 'These are the kinds of goals I'm after: lowering costs, covering all Americans, higher-quality care.' And around those goals, there are lots of ways to get there."

Momentum might be on Obama's side. Aaron Carroll, an Indiana University medical professor who has surveyed doctors' views on U.S. health care delivery, said 59 percent "favor government legislation to establish national health insurance," an increase over a previous poll's finding.

He noted that many doctors are not AMA members, and therefore the association's views should not be overrated.


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Sources: Huffington Post, Flickr, Day Life, Google Maps

Health Care Reform Battle Continues: Pres. Obama Supports Public Option, AMA Backtracks Opposition

Huffington Post----

Speaking at a town hall in Green Bay Wisconsin, President Barack Obama addressed head on what is the hot debate of the day: whether a health reform overhaul should include a public option for health insurance.

"I also strongly believe that one of the options in the exchange should be a public insurance option," Obama declared, in what was one of his most forceful statements of support since the health care debate began. "And the reason is not because we want a government takeover of health care. I've already said, if you've got a private plan that works for you, that's great. But we want some competition. If the private insurance companies have to compete with a public option, it will keep them honest and it will help keep their prices down."

The remarks came just several hours after the American Medical Association said it would oppose a public option for coverage. But in a reflection of just how delicate this debate has become, the 250,000 member physician group largely backtracked from is opposition later in the day.

"Make no mistake: health reform that covers the uninsured is AMA's top priority this year," a clarifying statement from the group read. "Every American deserves affordable, high-quality health care coverage.

"Today's New York Times story creates a false impression about the AMA's position on a public plan option in health care reform legislation. The AMA opposes any public plan that forces physicians to participate, expands the fiscally-challenged Medicare program or pays Medicare rates, but the AMA is willing to consider other variations of the public plan that are currently under discussion in Congress. This includes a federally chartered co-op health plan or a level playing field option for all plans. The AMA is working to achieve meaningful health reform this year and is ready to stand behind legislation that includes coverage options that work for patients and physicians."

While not directly addressing AMA's position on the public plan, the president did offer what seemed to be a subtle dig at the group's seemingly conflicting objectives. AMA's mission has been health care coverage for all, but it has also opposed every major at a systematic overhaul since the FDR administration.

"Doctors didn't get into the medical profession to be bean counters or paper pushers," Obama said in his early remarks, underscoring the bureaucratic problems that exists in the status quo. "They are not interested in spending all their time acting like lawyers or business executives."

Later in the question and answer session, Obama directly addressed the political component of the debate over the public option, gently calling out critiques for misrepresenting the plan's objectives.

"Now, how this debate is evolving in Washington, unfortunately sometimes kinds of falls into the usual politics, right?" the President said. "So, what you've heard is some folks on the other side saying, I'm opposed to a public option because that's going to lead to government running your health care system. Now, I don't know how clearly I can say this, but let me try to repeat it. If you've got health insurance that you're happy with through the private sector, then we're not going to force you to do anything. All we're saying is for the 46 million people who don't have health insurance or for people who have got health insurance like you... let's change some of those incentives so that we get more people getting prevention, more people getting health care to keep them healthy as opposed to just treating them when they get sick. And I think that we can come up with a sensible, commonsense way that's not disruptive, that still has room for insurance companies and the private sector, but that does not put people in the position where they are potentially bankrupt every time they get sick."

The ability of the president to elevate himself above the usual political scrum proved monumentally valuable during the course of the campaign. His appearance at Green Bay on Thursday suggests that the Obama White House thinks it can apply this formula to the health care reform debate. The friendlier turf, they believe, is outside Washington.


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