President Obama Should Continue Efforts For Bipartisanship To Pass Health Care, Other Proposals, Op-Ed States

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Article Date: 20 Feb 2009 - 5:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

"As far as most of Washington is concerned, Barack Obama's big talk about bipartisanship is kaput," but Obama should continue his efforts for bipartisanship, as he will require votes from Republicans to pass proposals on health care and other parts of his agenda, Washington Post columnist David Broder writes. "We saw what happened when the Clintons rebuffed John Chafee and other potential Republican allies" on their health care reform proposal; "without their help, the Clintons could not even bring a bill to the floor," according to Broder.

He adds, "It will be exquisitely difficult to negotiate changes to a system of vital importance to every family, considering that hospitals, doctors and other providers, and insurers all have huge economic stakes." Broder writes, "One of the few breaks Obama can count on is that Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) have collected a growing number of Democrats and Republicans as co-sponsors of an innovative bill," adding, "Obama would be foolish to ignore them."

In addition, "think ahead to entitlement reform," as "Democrats will never tackle Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid -- and the taxes to finance them -- unless, as former Wyoming Sen. Al Simpson used to say, significant numbers of Republicans agree to 'link arms and go over the cliff together,'" Broder writes (Broder, Washington Post, 2/19).

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.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations