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President Obama's push may be seen as an overreach
By: J.P. Freire
Associate Commentary Editor
07/17/09 6:45 PM EDT
President Obama's Friday "pep talk" on health care is coming in the wake of a rapid decline in support for the bill -- from allies to public opinion.
Most notable is this line: "Health insurance reform cannot add to to our deficit over the next decade and I mean it." Emphasizing this point only served as a contrast to CBO chief Douglas Elmendorf. Elmendorf's testimony the previous day stated that the main health care proposals under consideration would fail to contain costs and could actually worsen rapidly escalating medical spending. Elmendorf even noted on his blog that "keeping deficits and debt from reaching these levels would require increasing revenues significantly as a share of GDP, decreasing projected spending sharply, or some combination of the two." In other words, not doing what Obama suggests we do.
Elmendorf isn't the only critic raising Obama's eyebrows. Obama had specifically stated during his remarks that it was absolutely necessary health care reform occur within the year. This schedule may cause a conflict with those he needs to have on board, such as Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) who has expressed concern over Obama's push to get this done quickly: “We shouldn’t be restrained by an artificially compressed timeline,” said the Maine moderate, pointing out that with estimated costs of $2.4 trillion, health care comprises 17% of the US gross domestic product, so reforming health care is a “Herculean challenge.” (h/t Jake Tapper)
On Monday, the day before the bill was even dropped, 49 percent of U.S. voters at least somewhat opposed the plan while 46 percent were at least somewhat in favor of it, according to a poll taken by Rasmussen Reports. Two weeks prior to that, the same pollster reported that 50 percent were for it, and 45% were opposed.
Now even Zogby has a poll out: By 52 percent to 40 percent, voters say they're against the healthcare bill introduced to the House of Representatives. According to Zogby, this is the largest such survey conducted this year, with interviews spanning 4,000 adults nationwide. The polls findings include opposition to raising tax rates to pay for a new healthcare system. And among those currently insured, 84 percent are satisfied with their current health care.
It may be hoped that Obama's reassurance is all that's necessary to move the legislation along, but not if he's going to be contradicted at every turn.
More from J.P. Freire
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