Update: Obama will give a speech to Congress on health care, prime time, Sept. 9
David Axelrod says Obama may give another health care speech before Sept 15, offering even more specifics and guidance to Congress. Obama also may be giving a health care speech in Pittsburgh at the G20 later this month. Despite Obama's guidance, speeching, and town halls to date, many of the people working on health care still seem clueless. Wingnuts have dominated the conversation and diverted people's attention.Hopefully the wingnuts are out of the way, and out of the media's system, so that people can now talk about how to make the health care bill better. From the sounds of the bill running through the Senate, it just won't do the trick. I'm thinking, they should just give the task to me. Honestly, I could figure it out better than all these people who 1) are taking a long time 2) whining a lot 3) don't seem sincere.
Republican Mike Enzi has called for scrapping the health care bill, a bill that he's been working on, which says to me, he must not have been working very hard. He must not have been sincere in his efforts. Same for Chuck. I'm offended by their backstabbing, pretending to work on the bill with the democrats and then coming out against health reform in public.
I don't care who gets the bill done--the republicans and democrats or just the democrats-- so long as it's a good bill.
The health reform bill HAS TO HAVE a way to combat fee-for-service. Doctors shouldn't get paid per procedure. They should also be more inclined to explain procedures and tests. Patients need to be more informed about their health care. They need to take charge of their health care. Most people trust the doctor too much. Test and procedure names should be placed online so that people can look them up by disease or illness or alphabetically.
The health reform bill HAS TO HAVE incentives for people to stay healthy -- preventative measures. Why can't health insurance be like car insurance? If your are an irresponsible driver, you pay higher rates. If you are a smoker, drinker, obese, then you pay higher rates. That would provide incentives for people to stay healthy. I know I don't speed for a couple of reasons, but one of them is because I couldn't afford a higher rate of insurance.
The bill HAS TO HAVE an option or a way for low income people to get insurance.
Faced with falling approval ratings and increasingly impatient with Senate negotiations, 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.Here's a guest on Morning Joe who says Obama doesn't have a speech problem. I'd agree:
The speech might occur before the Sept. 15 deadline that 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 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 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 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 Obama "giving a speech that lays out in specific ways what he thinks" about the essential elements of a health care bill. NPR
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
