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Obama aides leave room for healthcare compromise
2009-09-07
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's top aides said on Sunday he still wants a government insurance option in healthcare legislation but they left room for a compromise that could disappoint his liberal backers. Ahead of a major Obama healthcare speech on Wednesday night, the advisers sought to portray a sense of momentum behind an overhaul of the $2.5 trillion U.S. healthcare system after a tumultuous summer of debate during which Obama lost ground and Republicans rallied opposition. Obama, speaking to a joint session of Congress, will lay out specifics of what he supports to try to regain control of the healthcare issue and gain passage of a plan this year. Analysts say how he handles the debate this autumn is a major test of his leadership and could define his presidency. With government spending and deficits soaring as the Obama administration fights the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and inherited wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, critics say the healthcare reforms are too costly. A key question is whether Obama is ready to drop his support for the "public option" -- a government insurance plan designed to compete with private insurance companies that has been a major feature of a proposed $1 trillion overhaul. Liberal Democrats such as House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi insist any plan has to include the public option, while moderate Democrats and almost all Republicans have vowed they will not support such a proposal. Top Obama adviser David Axelrod and White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, in interviews on morning television shows, gave a preview of the speech and were pressed on the public option. Axelrod told NBC's "Meet the Press" that Obama believes a government-run insurance plan is an important part of reform as a way to encourage competition and lower costs but that the public option "should not define the whole healthcare debate." Gibbs, on ABC's "This Week," said Obama wants a public option included in the overhaul but declined to answer a question about whether that provision was essential for the president to support healthcare legislation. The president will "draw some lines in the sand" in his speech, Gibbs said. "Well, I doubt we're going to get into heavy veto threats on Wednesday," he said when asked if Obama would block a bill that lacks the public option. "We're going to talk about what we can do because we're so close to getting it done." 'TRIGGER' FOR PUBLIC OPTION The insurance industry strongly opposes the public option and has spent millions of dollars lobbying against it, while conservative commentators have fanned fears of a government takeover of healthcare akin to socialism or communism. Many analysts believe Obama will be forced to accept a scaled-down plan. Obama enjoys solid Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress and some of his liberal supporters would like him to ram through legislation with the public option included. A group of moderate Democratic and Republican senators -- known as the "Gang of Six"-- have been engaged in closed-door negotiations searching for a way to avoid that divisive outcome and bridge the gap. A top item under discussion is a proposal that would not initially include a public option but would "trigger" the creation of a government program if insurance companies failed to meet cost and quality benchmarks. A key Democratic member of that group, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, may try to end the stalemate with a proposal based on various suggestions and possible provisions discussed in recent months, Democratic aides said on Saturday. "I think he (Obama) has to say if there's going to be a public option, it has to be subject to a trigger," Senator Ben Nelson, a centrist Democrat, said on CNN's "State of the Union." "In other words, if somehow the private market doesn't respond the way that it's supposed to, then it would trigger a public option or a government-run option, but only as a fail-safe backstop to the process." Congress returns to session this week after a break in August marked by heated public meetings and heavy media coverage of the battle over healthcare. A CBS News poll last week said most Americans found the healthcare proposals discussed in Congress confusing and thought Obama had not clearly explained his plans. (Additional reporting by Kim Dixon; Editing by John O'Callaghan)
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