Corporate Research Group’s Weblog

President Obama in remarks yesterday calling on Congress to vote on healthcare reform within the next few weeks:

Everything there is to say about healthcare has been said and just about everybody has said it.  So now is the time to make a decision.

Who knows, but maybe the President of the United States is actually smarter than I am. 

The Administration successfully parlayed the WellPoint rate hikes in California — increases that in fairness were logical and justified at least to some extent — into a symbol of the need for reform by highlighting the financial burden on small businesses and families trying to afford healthcare coverage (and once again demonizing millionaire health plan executives). 

Now the President has backed opponents of reform into a corner by agreeing to incorporate into his revised healthcare proposal four additional Republican ideas.  These ideas, which Republicans stressed in last week’s bipartisan healthcare summit, include a greater emphasis on combating fraud and waste, alternatives for resolving medical malpractice disputes, increased Medicaid payments to doctors, and the inclusion of HSA plans in insurance exchanges. 

The subtext is that the Administration has compromised (and compromised again), and now it’s the Republicans turn.  Don’t hold your breath.  Republicans have refused to compromise all along, and my guess is they will continue to refuse to compromise.  Their strategy is obstruction. 

Obama, meanwhile, has laid the groundwork for Democrats to push through reform — even if it requires the use of reconciliation — without appearing too bad in the eyes of the public.  When faced with the inevitable conservative cries of outrage, the President can just say, “Hey, we tried to compromise and look what happened.” 

All of which seems like pretty shrewd politics, especially considering that six in 10 Americans already blame Republicans for not compromising enough on healthcare reform.  Of course, winning the U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts would have been a better strategy, but hey, any port in a storm.

We have officially jumped the shark on healthcare reform with this ABC News report depicting President Obama as Super Mario — complete with music, video game sound effects and animations of Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Blue Dog Democrats (literally portrayed as little blue dogs).

From the website of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, “FAQs: Individuals Arriving from Haiti for Medical Care.”

May Haitian individuals admitted on humanitarian parole qualify for Medicaid?

Yes.  Individuals granted humanitarian parole are ordinarily non-qualified aliens ineligible for any benefits as non-qualified aliens. However, the Refugee Education and Assistance Act of 1980 permits Cubans and Haitians who have been granted humanitarian parole to be provided benefits as Cuban/Haitian Entrants.  Therefore, Haitians granted humanitarian parole because of the earthquake are qualified aliens exempt from the 5-year waiting period, and if otherwise eligible, may receive all Medicaid services available under the State plan.  The emergency services restriction affecting some non-citizens does not apply. 
 

As I predicted in January in my most roundly vilified post to date (and as this Reuters report suggests), House Democrats are putting together the votes to push through healthcare reform.  It’s not yet clear whether the House will pass the Senate bill (as I had predicted) or whether Democrats will use reconciliation to pass a slightly improved version (i.e., Obama’s compromise of the House and Senate bills).  Either way, I’ll be anxious to count how many anti-reform protesters forego needed benefits proffered by the legislation as a matter of principle.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) during President Obama’s healthcare summit last week, in response to Republican calls for a step-by-step approach to healthcare reform rather than comprehensive legislation.

If we want insurance reforms, you can only do that if everybody’s in the pool.  You can only get everybody in the pool if you make it affordable for middle class families and others.  You can only make it affordable for middle class families and others if you have cost controls….That’s why you can’t do this incremental approach.

President Obama hosted a healthcare summit last week in a last-ditch attempt to find common ground with Republicans. Is there any reason for hope? Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund, comments in this video interview from the Nasdaq Market Site in New York, Feb. 24, 2010.

The New York Times had a long piece this weekend titled The Cost of Doing Nothing, offering a bit of historical extrapolation on the consequences of prior failures to enact some type of healthcare reform:

If President Nixon’s plan had passed, the United States might be spending a trillion dollars a year less than it does now, and President Clinton’s plan would have reduced spending by some $500 billion a year.

Or as Dandy Don Meredith said, “If ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ were candy and nuts, wouldn’t it be a Merry Christmas?”