More than six hours of discussion at a White House summit on health care ended much like it began — with both sides agreeing the system needs fixing but intractably opposed on how best to do it.
The much-hyped event was short on progress and long on talking points, despite President Obama’s efforts to keep the debate focused, moving and clear of politics.
After musing aloud that he was unsure if the two sides could bridge their differences, Obama said on closing that he wants to see Republicans give a little more.
“I’d like the Republicans to do a little soul-searching and find out are there some things that you’d be willing to embrace that get to this core problem of 30 million people without health insurance and dealing seriously with the pre-existing condition issue,” he said.
While stopping short of calling the summit a waste of time, Republican leaders said they were nevertheless disappointed, and still want to scrap the existing bill and start over on the issue.
But the overarching takeaway from the summit was that neither side moved the needle much on an issue polls show Americans would rather they drop, anyway.
For Obama, the summit was a final grasp at realizing his signature issue — reforming the way Americans get health care and extending affordable coverage to millions of uninsured.
Earlier this week, the White House released a revised blueprint that would allow the government to regulate insurers, create state-run health exchanges and impose a phased-in excise tax on gold-plated benefits packages, among other measures.
But if Obama had hoped the new set of proposals would win Republican converts, the summit did not achieve that. He also came under criticism for talking too much, after promising both sides would get equal time.
“I just don’t think the president was listening,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican. “It wasn’t a matter of just inviting us down for our ideas, he wanted to argue with us.”
Obama also tangled with former presidential rival Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who objected to some of the specific considerations included in the original bill to win the support of targeted senators.
“Let me just make this point, John, because we’re not campaigning anymore, the election is over,” Obama said.
McCain shot back, “I’m reminded of that every day.”
At times during the debate, which Obama chaired, the president sounded tired and downbeat.
“Every so often we have a pretty good conversation trying to get on some specifics and then we go back to the standard talking points that Democrats and Republicans have had for the last year, and that doesn’t drive us to an agreement on issues,” he said.
