Axelrod, Grassley Spar Over Bipartisan Health Care

One of Barack Obama's chief advisers and one of the key Republicans in the Senate jousted on Sunday over what constitutes bipartisanship when it comes to health care legislation.

Appearing on ABC's "This Week," David Axelrod, the president's chief strategist, sought to allay criticism that the health care reform being pushed by the White House and Democrats on the Hill was being constructed without GOP support.

"The bill will be bipartisan by definition," said Axelrod. "The Senate health committee accepted 82 Republican amendments. Republican ideas will be included with this process, we hope it will come with Republican votes as well."

Host George Stephanopoulos followed the remark by noting: "That seems to be the new White House definition of bipartisanship." He appeared to be referencing the administration's approach to the stimulus package, which passed with no Republican support in the House but contained various GOP policy proposals.

"I don't think we should get consumed by process at a time when health care costs are -- you know they've doubled in this decade?" Axelrod responded. "Ultimately we'll bring the federal budget down. We have to act. We can't afford to get consumed in these types of Washington discussions."

That position was attacked in a latter segment on the same show when Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, scoffed at Axelrod's definition of bipartisanship.

"He said they put in 83 amendments," responded the Iowa Republican, missing the number Axelrod used by one. "Let me assure you, those were not changes in policy. Those were strictly technical. And Republicans are not going to hoodwinked into calling that a bipartisan bill."

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Comments

[Cunningham]

Insurance companies decide what health care you can and cannot have. They are the deciders, not the doctors.

[Cunningham]

Oops. That was meant as a reply to another comment. Sorry.

[digeridoo2]

did you say "deciders"?

[lianmolive]

Well I'll reply to your reply.

Isn't it funny when the Cons assert that they don't want the government to decide on what you medically need... ok... as opposed to the for-profit insurance companies who have every incentive to deny your claim for more profit?

[barkrudedog69]

after 9 surgeries under private insurance and all of it was covered from the testing to the bloodwork to the surgeries then to go on a FMLA for recovery and then to disability and Medicaid now I see that the GOVERNMENT is the one that does not want me to have the tests done, the proper medication, and the proper doctor visits. That is fact and real world.

[Cunningham]

Yep. It's just more hypocrisy from the GOP. They want us to believe that doctors and patients make health care decisions now. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

[Beachchick]

The Republicans left in the Senate are radical ideologues. They have the radical ideas, not everyone else or the mythical left. Universal nonprofit health care is not extremism. It is sanity.

[KQuark]

Obviously he has dealt with conservadems.

[d julien]

I thought we have a two party system in this country. if every major piece of legislation has to have the full consent of both parties, we really have one party and our vote is meaningless. We elected Democrats, gosh darn it, because they have different policies than the GOP. The Dems have already made reasonable consessions to the GOP but it has to be a largley Democratic bill. That's what we voted for. The idea of bipartisanship is BS. And the GOP, when in power, never gives anything to the Dems and now they want to be equal partners in government. Gimme a break!

[swift goat pet for truth]

Too bad for you.

Both parties are owned by big business.

Get used to it.

[rollingdivision]

"Axelrod: Obama Won't Rule Out Middle-Class Tax Hike "
Every Obama promise has an expiration date.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2009/06/axelrod-obama-wont-rule-out-tax-hike-.html

[swift goat pet for truth]

I live in the real world.
Tax hikes are inevitable, no matter who is in charge.

If the GOPers were in charge, the only people who would NOT be getting a tax hike are those making $200K +.

[freddiefreeloader]

If a Doctor or hospital refuses to treat a patient because of insurance problems than there guilty of a crime, They should only be allowed to ask about payment after services have been rendered and not before. Pass that rule and things will start to change.

[Westof405]

It doesn't work that way. You can't be refused emergency treatment because you can't pay, but everything else is pay as you go, just like any other service. This is why we need a single payer system like they have in most other industrialized western nations,

If Canada, Sweden, the UK, France and the rest can have asingle payer system without going broke, why can't the richest country on the planet? No one has yet to answer that question.

Britain started its national health system right after WWII when the country was basically flat broke from the cost of the war, yet they manage. Why can't we?

[Lorianne]

1. Not all of the countries have a 'single payer' system.

2. No one is proposing a plan that resembles the system in any of those countries.

[rxvette]

We don't need either party, GOP or Democrats, to achieve major reductions in healthcare costs. What we need most is for 300 million Americans to make better everyday choices. Read below to find out more:
http://rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/06/biggest-key-to-health-care-reform-in-us.html

[Teas]

You must work for an Insurance company or big pharma!

[rxvette]

Actually I'm a hospital pharmacist and if you would have read my blog article you would see how I would penalize the insurance industry by not allowing them to make profits on basic medical care as well as prohibiting them from discriminating against pre-existing conditions. I also think the drug companies should be forced to provide fair prices like in Canada and Europe for their products. They grossly overcharge the American public in my mind. So to counter your assumption - NO I'm not for insurance or big pharma. Remember what they say about assuming - you just make an ass out of you and me.

[rxvette]

I don't work for either an insurance company or big pharma. In fact I'm a clinical staff pharmacist at my local hospital and see the various problems with American health care everyday. If you read my blog article I state in there some very strict regulations for the private insurance industry. I also think drug companies are grossly overcharging for their products here in America. But the area we can make the most impact on in regards to long term successful health care reform in the U.S. lies with all of us individually and not the government or politicians. Is government and politicians important to moving forward in a positive direction by implementing much needed change? Yes! But I would recommend that you read what I actually published before jumping to conclusions.

[swift goat pet for truth]

While better life style choices are important, so are controlling useless tests, comparative effectiveness studies, revamping how big pharma does R&D and what they charge to whom, and certain administrative practices.

Healthcare CEO's with $500 mil retirement packages (UHC) take a lot out of the system.

[buddhistMonkey]

((( "And Republicans are not going to hoodwinked into calling that a bipartisan bill." )))

Oh, I don't know about that... just like every single Republican in the House opposed the stimulus bill, but took credit for the jobs it created after the fact, I have a feeling that once this overwhelmingly popular health care initiative passes, the Republicans (including Chuck Grassley) will be scrambling to call it "bipartisa­n."

[afgail]

It takes two to tango, and the Republicans won't dance. Why keep the fiction of bi-partisanship? Just ignore the GOP and pressure the Blue Dog Democrats to step up and do the right thing.

[Firbolg]

The President and Democrats in congress keep us in fear that the public option will be snatched away even though they control the agenda. This prevents consideration of the real solution, single payer.
When the public option is rescued at the last minute, even in a watered down version, we will be so ecstatic, that we will not realize we have been duped out of what we should expect as citizens of the most powerful nation on earth and what most advanced countries have enjoyed as a matter of right for decades.

[Dolmance]

The Republicans and the insurance companies believe the public option will kill them. I believe it will. And I'm looking forward to it.

[Firbolg]

Even thought there is no agreed definition of the public option? That's beyond belief; its faith based.

[NoelGreco]

"...we have been duped out of what we should expect as citizens of the most powerful nation on earth..."

If you don't see what is wrong with that statement, please take an economics course.

[Beachchick]

Not only is public nonprofit health care the most economically efficient choice, it is the most democratic choice. Advanced democracies don't have a two class state; this is emblematic of developing countries with corrupt governments not advanced nations.

[Firbolg]

Political science might be a better course.
Successive US governments keep our foreign legions in hundreds of countries and our navies in every ocean, outspend the word combined on our military, fund dissidents and arrogantly promote “regime change” wherever we feel like it and treat their our own citizens, except for a few the elites, as commodities. If a any foreign power attempted the same with us we can punish them with impunity.
If you want to talk economics, our products and business methods and ideology are universally admired and copied and, despite our deficits, or maybe because of them, our currency still has respect.
That looks like power to me.

[jonnai]

I agree I am so sick of this Bipartisanship S_ _t.
Obama needs to just get his pin together and sign it.
Just do a George Bush you know what i mean
Bush didnt care who, or what someone had to say he just went and did it.
By any means necessary.

[racom]

I don't care what the repuglicans call it, we just need to call it "DONE"~~~~

[lagumbo]

I can't understand why PRESIDENT OBAMA continues with this bipartisian crap. He knows by now that the GOP will obstruct, filibuster, or do anything in their power to fight him. We don't need them. They don't know how to come up with any plan orbill of their own. All they know is, what ever OBAM and the dems. do we will fight it.The GOP doesn't want anything to change, because their pockets won't be lined with lobbists money anymore. The GOP is the party that puts money, their cut, be country. PRESIDENT OBAMA we do not need these creeps. So let's get own with it please.

[NoelGreco]

"No political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years. "

Broken promise by Obama.

The number of lobbyists in DC is worse than ever.

Last week's cap-and-trade was a lobbyist field day, with most of the graft going to the Democrat Party.

[IndieBlue]

The ever-powerful wind turbine lobby strikes again!

[digeridoo2]

By the way, what's with Axelrod's name anyway? Sounds like he should be producing "films" by a pool in San Bernadino valley.

[AlaninElkGrove]

...or in the dirt in Chatsworth­...

[chronic]

And call it "The Destruction Of The G.O.P."

[Martampa]

The Dems and Obama need to get some backbone. Problem is that the too many of the Dem Senators and Congressmen are bought and paid for by the Lobbyists. Therefore nothing good will come out of this for the citizens. We voters really need to clean house and get rid of the lot.

[getoffmedz]

Return no incumbent.

[Marcospinelli]

I think that people mistakenly believe that Obama&Democrats want public health care.

If the Bush administration taught us nothing else, it's that anyone can sell anything to the American people, if you're stolid and relentless in your sales pitch and tactics.

Obama didn't get to be the first black president, vanquish the Clinton machine and the oldest and most experienced politicians in our nation's history by not having mastered these skills. Nor do Democratic politicians (more incumbents than ever, in office longer) not know how to do it. How do you think Democrats managed to keep impeaching Bush and Cheney off the table and have us still reelecting them, not marching on Washington with torches and pitchforks?

Obama and Democrats know how to do it -- They don't want to do it. The trick for them has been to keep us believing that they really do want a populist public health care program, but that they're merely inept. And to get us to keep voting for them in spite of their failure to deliver on any of our alleged shared objectives.

Our mistake is in believing that Democrats want to pass public health care, single payer or not. If Democrats could get away with forcing universal health care (forcing all Americans into for-profit insurance policies), they'd do that.

The DLC, which is in control of the Democratic Party, is not a populist group of people. They're in bed with Big Business, just like Republicans.