Obama Feverishly Courts GOP in Search of a Reform Bill Compromise

[This article posted on February 7, 2010. It is posted within the following categories: Healthcare Policy & The Media, Politics & The Law, via Michael Douglas, MD, MBA.]

Obama is currently changing the focus of his administration’s effort at domestic economic fixes from healthcare to jobs creation. But he hasn’t completely abandoned healthcare lately — in spite of the recent media coverage hinting of the president’s pressuring Nancy Pelosi to just go with the Senate version pronto.

At an effort to keep health reform from the jaws of death, Obama has invited GOP leaders to discuss possible bipartisan compromises in a meeting slated for the end of this month.

Asked if he was willing to start from square one, the president said he wants “to look at the Republican ideas that are out there. And I want to be very specific. ‘How do you guys want to lower costs? How do you guys intend to reform the insurance markets so people with preexisting conditions, for example, can get health care?’”

Haven’t we been here before? Over a year into his presidency and his dreams of reform passage still the stuff of pipes — patients, providers, and pundits are probably growing as weary as the GOP (now that filibuster is not a possibility) watching this fight play on.

A White House statement Sunday said Obama repeatedly has made it clear “that he’s adamant about passing comprehensive reform similar to the bills passed by the House and the Senate.”

“He hopes to have Republican support in doing so, but he is going to move forward on health reform,” the statement said.

Obama hopes? For all of those wondering just how flawed the Democrats’ bipartisan strategy has been up to this point with respect to reform, it is unfortunately totally being laid bare now. The battle for reform on Obama’s terms is rapidly slipping away. | LINK