The White House and backers of comprehensive health care reform are repositioning the issue as one that will restore health — to the U.S. economy.
The administration’s intensifying economic message dovetails with new advertising from advocacy groups that also says fixing health care is key to shoring up the economy.
President Barack Obama called the weeks leading up to the congressional August recess “the make-or-break period” for devising a workable plan.
The president summoned Democratic leaders to the White House for a collective push on health care before he leaves the country for a five-day swing through Europe and the Middle East.
“He kept coming back to what I consider the key to success here — reining in these costs that are hitting families like a wrecking ball,” Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said after meeting with the president. “I liked the sense of urgency; I liked the fact that he’s saying he’s going to have his foot to the pedal here to get this done this year.”
To help make the case, the White House Council of Economic Advisers released a report touting the economic benefits of enacting health care reform, including family savings, deficit reduction and lower unemployment rates.
Most Republicans aren’t buying it, however, and say the administration and its supporters have yet to figure out how to pay for health care reform. House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio called the new report “smoke and mirrors.”
“Everyone agrees that reducing the cost of health care would benefit our economy, but the administration hasn’t offered a credible plan to do so without raising taxes or rationing care,” Boehner said.
In some ways, Obama’s push for health care reform mirrors former President George W. Bush’s unsuccessful campaign for Social Security reform in 2005. Both cases feature a consensus problem lacking easy solutions and demanding a great leap of faith from lawmakers that an up-front risk will produce a major payoff down the road.
A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll found 80 percent of Americans are happy with the quality of the health care they receive, and 52 percent called it too expensive.
A March poll by the Pew Research Center found 40 percent believe the health care system should be completely rebuilt, while 36 percent favored fundamental changes and 21 percent support only minor changes.
Republicans are saying that plans being floated by the Democrats would force the government to come between families and their doctors, or would greatly reduce the quality of health care services.
It’s a potent political message that, combined with the prospect of raising taxes to pay for it and intensive lobbying involvement by the health care industry, creates a high hurdle for the Obama administration.
