Posted on 02/07/2010 6:51:45 PM PST by Dominic01
President Obama moved to jump-start the stalled health-care debate Sunday, inviting Republicans in Congress to participate in a bipartisan, half-day televised summit on the subject this month.
The president made the offer in an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric hours before the network televised the Super Bowl. Obama challenged Republicans, who have been largely unified in opposing his proposals, to bring their best ideas for how to cover more Americans and fix the health-insurance system to the public discussion.
"I want to consult closely with our Republican colleagues," Obama said. "What I want to do is to ask them to put their ideas on the table. . . . I want to come back and have a large meeting, Republicans and Democrats to go through, systematically, all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward."...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Repubs should start with tort reform and the discussion will end right there.
Very true...
A million bucks for nothing is the dream of all the Marxists.
The classic use of the phrase “Summit Conference” is when enemies meet to see if they can work out some sort of agreement not to bomb each other.
Notably, the phrase was usually applied to meetings between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
That’s pretty much what this one would be like. With the news coverage limited to Pravda.
Are the Pubbies stupid enough to bite?
Without Mass. this doesn’t happen....along with NJ and Virginia...this does not happen.
I would go in with a CUT DEFICIT, CUT GOVERNMENT, Cut the Bill down to 4 Pages proposal of Republican IDEAS ONLY.
That would be Fair, would it not ?
T R A P
Yes - your idea alone would be an acceptable way to go into this bogus meeting.
When he supports the Republican House bill, then we can talk.
If Repubs were smart, they’d take in cameras and start with tort reform - NO TORT REFORM, just walk out and call a press conference to say Obummer is NOT serious about fixing the problems BECAUSE HE IS A LAWYER, not a President...
•Remove the legal obstacles that slow the creation of high-deductible health insurance plans and health savings accounts (HSAs). The combination of high-deductible health insurance and HSAs is one solution that could solve many of our health-care problems. For example, Whole Foods Market pays 100% of the premiums for all our team members who work 30 hours or more per week (about 89% of all team members) for our high-deductible health-insurance plan. We also provide up to $1,800 per year in additional health-care dollars through deposits into employees' Personal Wellness Accounts to spend as they choose on their own health and wellness. Money not spent in one year rolls over to the next and grows over time. Our team members therefore spend their own health-care dollars until the annual deductible is covered (about $2,500) and the insurance plan kicks in. This creates incentives to spend the first $2,500 more carefully. Our plan's costs are much lower than typical health insurance, while providing a very high degree of worker satisfaction.
•Equalize the tax laws so that employer-provided health insurance and individually owned health insurance have the same tax benefits. Now employer health insurance benefits are fully tax deductible, but individual health insurance is not. This is unfair.
•Repeal all state laws which prevent insurance companies from competing across state lines. We should all have the legal right to purchase health insurance from any insurance company in any state and we should be able use that insurance wherever we live. Health insurance should be portable.
•Repeal government mandates regarding what insurance companies must cover. These mandates have increased the cost of health insurance by billions of dollars. What is insured and what is not insured should be determined by individual customer preferences and not through special-interest lobbying.
•Enact tort reform to end the ruinous lawsuits that force doctors to pay insurance costs of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. These costs are passed back to us through much higher prices for health care.
•Make costs transparent so that consumers understand what health-care treatments cost. How many people know the total cost of their last doctor's visit and how that total breaks down? What other goods or services do we buy without knowing how much they will cost us?
•Enact Medicare reform. We need to face up to the actuarial fact that Medicare is heading towards bankruptcy and enact reforms that create greater patient empowerment, choice and responsibility.
•Finally, revise tax forms to make it easier for individuals to make a voluntary, tax-deductible donation to help the millions of people who have no insurance and aren't covered by Medicare, Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program.
That plan would solve 98% of our health care cost problems, and increase the quality of care for everyone.
What jackass would allow himself to be photographed like that? Seems as if he is bellowing HeeHaw??????
The Spider to the Fly.
The approach should be, “Obie, you and the Dems have had your day. Just put the Demo plan in the shredder, and we start at square one with our bill.”
“We discuss our bill, since yours has been rejected. Otherwise we would be wasting time”
We can't let the Dems turn it into a discussion of both together. If that were to happen, it would be come a “we came part way, now you come half way, and we will take ours and mix yours with it.”
That can't happen.
Never forget that it is a pit of Vipers you are going into.
Obuma is such a trend-setter, don’t you think? Thus the use of such descriptive terms.
I’d say that, with this crowd of Pubbies, the odds are in favor of just exactly that. They won’t even be prepared for the obvious setup they’ll be getting into.
How kind of this fool to invite elected officials. /sarc
The Republicans should suggest medical malpractice tort reform, Canadian drugs, interstate competition and no taxes on Cadillac health plans; that should get them uninvited quickly.
Story: The president made the offer in an interview with CBS News anchor Katie Couric
Conclusion: More boob bait for the Bolsheviks.
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