President Obama Discusses Details Of Economic Stimulus Package In First Weekly Video Address

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Public Health;  Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 27 Jan 2009 - 2:00 PDT

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President Obama on Saturday in his first video address outlined the details of his $825 billion economic stimulus package that includes provisions to help many U.S. residents retain their health insurance, the New York Times reports (Baker, New York Times, 1/25). According to Obama, the stimulus package would help about 8.5 million residents retain their health insurance through federal subsidies for COBRA and an expansion of Medicaid (Talev, McClatchy/Miami Herald, 1/25). He said, "This is not just a short-term program to boost employment," adding, "It's one that will invest in our most important priorities," such as health care, "that are necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century" (New York Times, 1/25).

After his address, the Obama administration issued a four-page report that includes details on the provisions in the stimulus package (Alpert, New York Post, 1/25). Obama also announced the launch of a new Web site, www.recovery.gov, that will track all government spending under the stimulus package (Ward, Washington Times, 1/25).

Senate Democrats Release Stimulus Package
Senate Democrats on Friday released details of their economic stimulus package (S 1), which includes about $148 billion in funds for health care, CQ Today reports. Many of the health care provisions included in the Senate version of the stimulus package differ from those in the House version.

The Senate version of the stimulus package includes a provision that would extend Medicaid to families who become ineligible for the program because their incomes increase at a cost of $1.3 billion over 10 years; the House version would allow states to expand their Medicaid programs to low-income, recently unemployed workers through 2010 at a cost of almost $9 billion. In addition, the Senate version of the stimulus package includes federal subsidies for 65% of the health insurance premiums under COBRA for nine months, compared with one year under the House version. The Senate version of the stimulus package also does not include a provision in the House version that would allow recently unemployed workers ages 55 and older or those with at least 10 years of tenure at their jobs to continue to receive health insurance through COBRA until they find a new job that offers coverage or reach age 65, when they can enroll in Medicare (Wayne, CQ Today, 1/24).

The Senate version of the stimulus package includes about $3 billion more for health care information technology than the House version, which includes $20 billion (Yoest, Wall Street Journal, 1/24). Under the Senate version of the stimulus package, the Department of Veterans Affairs would receive at least $3.4 billion for long-term care facilities, construction of new hospitals, and modernization of treatment centers; the House version would provide VA with at least $1 billion (Johnson, CQ Today, 1/23).

The Senate version of the stimulus package also includes $3.5 billion for research and facility renovations at NIH and $1.1 billion for research on the comparative effectiveness of medical treatments by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (CQ Today, 1/24). The House version of the stimulus package includes similar funds (Wall Street Journal, 1/24).

Meeting With Congressional Leaders
On Friday, Obama met with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders in an effort to address concerns about the economic stimulus package, the New York Times reports (Calmes/Herszenhorn, New York Times, 1/24). After the meeting, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said, "It was a bipartisan discussion and truly the president was leading us to be united, not divided." Congressional leaders agreed to pass a final stimulus package by Presidents Day (Epstein/Clarke, CQ Today, 1/23). White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs said that Obama this week will "go to Capitol Hill" to "talk to Republican caucuses and solicit their input and their ideas" (New York Times, 1/24). The Senate Appropriations Committee and the Senate Finance Committee plan to mark up their portions of the stimulus package on Tuesday. The full House likely will vote on the stimulus package on Wednesday (Rucker, Washington Post, 1/25).

Sections of Stimulus Package Examined

• The Christian Science Monitor on Monday examined how the economic stimulus package could help many states address their budget deficits through increased federal funds for Medicaid (Grier, Christian Science Monitor, 1/26).
  
  
• The New York Times on Monday examined how the funds for health care IT and other technology included in the stimulus package would create more than 900,000 jobs in one year (Lohr, New York Times, 1/26).

Editorials

• Wall Street Journal: "Obama has announced that a big check to state governments is part of his stimulus spending plan in order to 'save the public sector jobs'" of various people "'who provide vital services,'" a Journal editorial states. The editorial continues, "But the states aren't innocent victims," adding, "Their revenues have collapsed of late ... because lawmakers thought the days of living well would last forever." According to the editorial, "A federal bailout for these distressed states means redistributing income to these big spenders from the most fiscally responsible states," which also "creates an incentive for state and local officials to pad their budgets as their lobbyists race to capture as many federal dollars as they can." The editorial states, "One especially ill-designed idea from the Obama Administration is to allow the federal government to pay a greater share of state Medicaid costs," adding, "So instead of reforming policy to slow the stampeding cost of medical care, states will have an incentive to spend lavishly, because every health-care dollar lures more money from Washington." The "pattern of recent economic cycles is that states overspend during boom years while tightening their budgets during recessions," the editorial states, adding, "A federal bailout will convert this spend and retrench cycle into a new regime in which states spend during good times and bad" (Wall Street Journal, 1/26).
  
  
• Wall Street Journal: "The spending portion of the stimulus, in short, isn't really about the economy," a Journal editorial states. The editorial continues, "It's about promoting longtime Democratic policy goals, such as subsidizing health care for the middle class." The editorial states, "The 'stimulus' is merely the mother of all political excuses to pack as much of this spending agenda as possible into a single bill when Mr. Obama is at his political zenith" (Wall Street Journal, 1/26).

Broadcast Coverage

• ABC's "This Week" on Sunday featured an interview with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in which she discussed the economic stimulus package (Stephanopoulos, "This Week," ABC, 1/25).
  
  
• American Public Media's "Marketplace" on Friday reported on the meeting between Obama and congressional leaders to discuss the economic stimulus package. The report includes comments from Mark Zandi of Economy.com (Dimsdale, "Marketplace," American Public Media, 1/23).
  
  
• American Public Media's "Marketplace" on Friday also reported on the meeting. The report includes comments from American University political science professor James Thurber and House Ways and Means Committee ranking member David Camp (R-Mich.) (Marshall Genzer, "Marketplace," American Public Media, 1/23).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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