When President Obama steps to the podium for his State of the Union address Wednesday, he will not have a signed healthcare reform bill to hold up. But, despite a turn of events this past week in Massachusetts and signs of discontent in some parts of Congress, he still anticipates that healthcare reform legislation will prevail.
On Friday, at a town hall meeting in Elyria, OH, he put the focus on health insurance practices and affordable care. "Now, since this has been in the news a little bit this week, let me say a little something about healthcare. I had no illusions when I took this on that this was going to be hard," he said.
"Let me tell you why I did it. I knew that insurance premiums had more than doubled in the past decade. I knew that out of pocket expenses had skyrocketed. I knew that millions more people had lost their insurance, and I knew that because of that economic crisis that was only going to get worse," he said.
He added that he "had encountered "a little bit of a buzz saw this week" with the election of Scott Brown to U.S. Senate in Massachusetts—which ends the Democrats’ super majority grip in the Senate. He also encountered dissent in Congress—especially with the House expressing displeasure with the Senate health reform bill.
However, he acknowledged that the "process was so long and so drawn out. This is just what happens in Congress. I mean, it's just an ugly process. You're running headlong into special interests, and armies of lobbyists, and partisan politics that's aimed at exploiting fears instead of getting things done," he said.
White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said on Sunday's "Meet the Press" that "nothing changed about the fact that costs are escalating too high." She added that out of pocket expenses for healthcare were growing, and that many people who do have insurance are losing it because of pre existing conditions.
"The deficit is looming out of control in large part because of healthcare and that small businesses are having to choose between laying off people and paying for healthcare," she said.
Another one of the President's top political advisors, David Alexrod, disagreed with the idea that healthcare reform is dead in Congress. "No, that's not true at all," Axelrod said.
"I think what he's saying is let's take a look at [the reform bills]. There are so many elements of this—tax breaks for small business, extending the life of Medicare, more assistance for seniors with their prescription drugs, a cap on out of pocket expenses, help for people with pre existing conditions—that are too important to walk away from," Axelrod said. "What he's saying is, 'Let's get back to it.'"
Republicans in Congress, though, may have other idea. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), speaking Sunday on "Meet the Press," said the Senate Democrats "ought to make . . . the decision that [healthcare reform] ought to be over," he said. "The American people are telling us, 'Please stop trying to pass this.'
"What I hope we're going to hear from the president on Wednesday night is an indication that he'd like to go in a different direction. And as I've said all year, if he wants to meet us in the middle of the political spectrum, we'll be there to help him," McConnell said.
The effort to reconcile both the House and Senate bills—once seen as a quick effort in early January—is slower than initially anticipated. While 80% of both bills are the same, "certain things in the Senate bill can't be supported," said House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at her weekly briefing on Thursday. "I don't see the votes for it at this time."
Some of those areas of contention include special financial favors given to states in the reform bill, such as Nebraska, plus an additional tax on higher cost insurance policies. "In its present form without changes, I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the House," she said.
She said the House will not give up passing health reform. "We are not in a big rush," she said. "[We want to go] where we can build consensus."
Janice Simmons is a senior editor and Washington, DC, correspondent for HealthLeaders Media Online. She can be reached at jsimmons@healthleadersmedia.com.