President Tries To Put Out Fire From Emanuel's Health Care Remarks

In an effort that seemed designed to appease concerned progressive advocates, President Barack Obama issued a clarifying statement about the administration's commitment to a "public option" for health insurance while traveling in Russia on Tuesday.

"I am pleased by the progress we're making on health care reform and still believe, as I've said before, that one of the best ways to bring down costs, provide more choices, and assure quality is a public option that will force the insurance companies to compete and keep them honest," read the statement. "I look forward to a final product that achieves these very important goals."

The vague reassurance came hours after Obama's own chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel suggested that the White House would be comfortable with legislation that had a public plan "triggered" in only by worsening economic conditions.

"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," Emanuel told the Wall Street Journal. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.

It was, White House aides insist, far from a commitment to a trigger option. But a source close to the administration, who has been in contact with the White House on health care matters, said that Emanuel has been "floating" the trigger compromise since January.

"Rahm's problem with this is he is on the more conservative end of the Democratic Party and he is a very political guy," the source added. "He is working for a way out without a bloody fight. The problem is he doesn't mind taking that fight to the left. And what I worry could happen is the left will just quit."

Certainly Emanuel's remarks to the Journal presented a pill too big to swallow for many Democrats. "It is actually the most ludicrous of the compromises on the table," explained one activist. "It says we should wait until the health care crisis gets worse before it gets better."

And in the hours after the interview was published, the White House clearly sensed concern bubbling. Moving with haste, aides put out a statement from the president before any major firestorm erupted.

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"I think it's more of a 'progressive groups don't freak the f*** out' statement," said one health care strategist.

In private, White House officials are concerned that the debate over a public option has become so volatile that it could end up derailing the entire health care package. The president has remained loyal to such a plan, but has not demanded the same from Congress.

"The President and every member of this Administration have been consistent," said one administration official. "They aren't drawing any lines in the sand that would give people an excuse to walk away from the bill, but the President's strong support for the public option is clear - and it shows in both the Senate HELP bill and the House tri-committee bill."

The real sticking point in the health care reform debate will come once the Finance Committee releases its bill -- which likely won't include a public option -- and is forced to merge its final language with that of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee.

That should happen relatively soon. Lines are already being drawn in the sand. In an interview with the Huffington Post, Sen. Chuck Schumer, (D-N.Y.), said the trigger option was unlikely to get the type of support it needs from Democrats to pass through the Senate.

"My bottom-line criteria is that it has to be strong, national, and available to everyone on day one, to keep the insurance companies honest and I'm not sure we can get there," he said. "I've been talking to [Sen.] Olympia [Snowe] about this," he added, referring to the trigger option's main champion in the Senate, "but I'm not sure we can bridge that gap."

Outside government, activists seconded Schumer's statement, adding that if any compromise were to make it through Congress, it would be for a co-op plan that had robust purchasing and negotiating power.

"I think there could be some push for a co-op plan if it was national," said the strategist. "I'm not sure state-by-state will fly by itself."

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Comments

[bswell]

To all those who oppose a public health plan option, I say more power to you--give up your Medicare, your Social Security and your VA benefits. That would substantiate your beliefs. And don't look for government subsidized nursing homes, in-home care, special child care, mainstreaming your kids or any of the myriad programs that you demand from the government for yourselves or your families. After all, you oppose government intervention. We have the worst health care system in the industrialized world due to the GREED of the insurance companies, the doctors and the private hospital and healthcare corporations, along with their Republican supporters.

[MichaelLittleBig]

JJenifer said"We are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. PERIOD."
Who is we? Is "We" the government? Liberty? You better sit down and think of the last time that "WE" did not intrude on our liberty. Pursuit of Happiness? Pullleease? We are in a country
that is run by very rich and powerful people. Now think for a minute, why are they rich and powerful; did they inherit it ? Or did they take it at the expense of their citizens? An example of taking it: is like the Trillions owed to Social Security.
And just how did you JJenifer earn your citizenship?
Are you a veteran? peace core worker? You have said a lot of things that make sense. But you better start putting the word humanity in your little speeches since you are only as good, as safe,
as healthy, as prosperous, as your fellow man. Health care may not be a "Right" but it is a good and descent virtue of a society that cares about its people.
Selfish people are not happy people.
Selfish people can’t have liberty degrading other people.
Selfish people have a live that stinks.
It is not about reading the words Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness; it is about how you interpret those words.
Your worth and your value as a person are dependent on the kindness given to you by others. PERIOD.

[Star2000dancer]

No amount of health care can fix this: Codex Alimentarius was created in 1962 as a trade Commission by the UN to ... Codex Alimentarius treats nutrients as toxins, which is literally insane. ...
www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=157 - Cached

[JJennifer]

Jivan said "We're dying out here while Insurance executives, medical equipment firms, drug companys, and many MDs live a life of luxury."
They earned it through hard work and sacrifice, more power to them! Do you want to go back to the days when they bled you and people died because there were no drugs or have an operation with nothing but a swig of whiskey and a bullet between your teeth? JEEZ, you people who think you are owed everything and those who have devoted their lives to healing should be cut down to size.

[Star2000dancer]

We have very few healers left now days. We have health care workers who learn how to sell drugs to treat symptoms, side effects to cause more symptoms, or mutilation. We are are not allowed to "cure". And we have nutrients being treated as toxins and taken out of your food causing obesity, diabetes, a lowered immune system, chronic diseases & death. 1000 Americans are dying every single day from misdiagnosis alone.

[JJennifer]

thekidde said "Cost will be considerably less, dipstick."
Right. Just like Social Security was put into a trust fund.

[JJennifer]

"JJennifer, how well has private enterprise done so far in handling a "government hands-off" approach to health care? You happy with the results so far?"
Yes, I am. We pay almost $600.00 a month and never use it, but I understand the premiums are high so they can treat others and that's okay with me. On the rare occasions we have used it, it has been great. We are with Kaiser Permanente, an HMO.

[Star2000dancer]

Wait until you really need it and find out the horrors it holds for you. I went in for a refill I took a couple times a month and was pretty well healed. The HMO doctor refused to fill the old scrips. He gave me the new drugs they're pushing. I almost died that night. He denied I had side effects, & gave me more. Before I knew it I was bed ridden.
I was just opening my new dream business. I lost it, & was in bed for 8 months just that time alone. It turned out I only had heart burn, but they turned it into a duodenum ulcer.

[JJennifer]

Collage said "Our citizens are owed decent Health Care by virtue of our founding documents. " Nope, nothing in there offering free anything to anyone. We are promised life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. PERIOD.

[Star2000dancer]

What's wrong with you? Doctors also takes oaths to 1st do no harm. Wait until you get injured, then misdiagnosed & lose everything you own. Then see how you like it.
I am a healer, and I consider it a privelage and a gift. All the honest & caring doctors and nurses I know are quitting because they know they ca'nt give the care they know they're suppose to give because of big Pharm.

[Naplesboi]

Wouldn't you agree that health is crucial to the pursuit of life. And just how does denial of treatments & coverage by the for profit health care industry further anyones pursuit of 'life'. If is in fact directly linked to a great many dealths in this country.

[JJennifer]

zzpat said "The GOP found trillions of dollars to give tax cuts to the rich and they had no problem creating trillions of dollars of debt doing it (both under Reagan and Bush). But do something for someone who's not rich...well, that's just plain unAmerican."
Tax cuts went to everyone, not just the rich. If you want to see what it's like to be truly poor, wait til Obama lets Bush's tax cuts expire, cap and trade and universal health care ushered in, it will hurt the not rich most of all.

[Star2000dancer]

It should be for the lower & middle classes, It's time the rich elite started paying their fair share again.

[hhayden]

Why is Obama able to enter into a treaty with the Russians to weaken our defense without a 3/4 vote and discussion from the senate? Isn't he supposed to be a big Constitutional expert? How does he get away with it while ignoring real nuclear threats?

[ECBA88]

Wrong page, marked as spam.

Why haven't we actually declared war since 1941, despite 4 acknowledged events considered to be wars, as well as several more minor military actions?

[JJennifer]

anothervoice2 said "Why should health insurance be a for-profit enterprise?"
Because nobody works for free. The pilgrims originally were an all for one enterprise when they came to the New World. Everything was held in common and they nearly starved to death. So they rethought their situation and divided up the land into plots for each family and traded with eachother and everyone was able to keep the fruits of their own labor. They flourished. This lesson was not lost on our founding fathers. Until 1913 there was no personal income tax and the country flourished like no other in the world. Think about what you pay in taxes and consider what you could do with that money, would this country be trillions of dollars in debt? Not bloody likely! If you let people decide for themselves how to spend their own money, you won't have a corrupt government promising you everything and taking everything you have instead.

[hhayden]

They nearly starved to death because they were woefully unprepared for life in the wild whatever their arrangement. If they hadn't stumbled on an English speaking Indian who took them under his wing, they probably would have. They learned in Russia that only the little personal gardens the people were allowed flourished.

[Honabet]

I find it difficult to believe how naive people can be. For years all we've heard
is that health care costs are going through the roof. That millions of Americans
are uninsured. Now we have a chance to do something about it. Did anyone
think this would happen without a fight? Hillary Clinton tried to push through
her health plan when Bill was president. She didn't work with Congress first.
Her plan died. Now we're working with Congress and we have to plod through
the slush. Compromise is the name of the game. Who doesn't know that?
And NO-ONE IS TALKING ABOUT NATIONAL HEALTH CARE. The talk is
about cutting costs and OFFERING AN OPTION - ONLY AN OPTION - TO PROVIDE
A PUBLIC PLAN OF HEALTH CARE FOR THE MILLIONS WHO CAN'T AFFORD PRIVATE INSURANCE.

JJennifer - we may have the best health care but only for those who can afford expensive premiums
or who have private resources to pay when the insurance companies refuse.
As for our debt, the Iraq war has already cost a trillion dollars, never mind the human toll.
Mr Obama did not cause the Wall Street disaster. He had to deal with the plate he was handed.

Everyone has there personal story to tell but unless we do something now you had better
start saving because when you're 65 - and it comes sooner than you think -there won't be any
Medicare or Social Secuirty at the rate we're going now.

[hhayden]

The "option" thing is just a smoke screen until they drive out the private sactor.

[zzpat]

I disagree. It's an excuse to do nothing. Obama, Emanuel and most members of congress are millionaires. What can they possibly know about health care costs? Instead it's a political game they play as they watch the rest of us squirm...waiting for something, anything. We'll get what they'd never accept for themselves and that should be the test....if we get a plan, it must be mandated that every member of congress have the same plan.

The GOP found trillions of dollars to give tax cuts to the rich and they had no problem creating trillions of dollars of debt doing it (both under Reagan and Bush). But do something for someone who's not rich...well, that's just plain unAmerican.

[JJennifer]

Honabet, only an option to provide a public plan of health care? We had a $732 million dollar budget surplus in Hawaii in 2007 so we decided to use it to offer the first free child health care in the country and everybody took their kids out of their private insurance and jumped onboard the public plan. Within 8 months it was bankrupt and our surplus was gone. Government can't manage anything responsibly. You admitted yourself that Medicare and Social Security will not be around much longer. If you look at the statistics most people without health insurance are young and don't want to spend their money on that or are in job transition. It is against the law to refuse health care to anyone, insurance or not, that's why hospitals are going out of business. I guarantee if you get government run health care, it will be rationed as it is in every country that has it now, costing lives and quality of life.

[tman418]

Why is it then, JJennifer, that the US, the only industrialized country without universal health care, has some of the worst health standards out of all those countries? Many of these countries find their universal health care systems to be just fine. Sure, they're not perfect, but they are healthy and live longer.

By the way, if private insurance was so good, why couldn't private insurers in Hawaii come out with a better way to keep their customers?

[JJennifer]

Annie frid said "I can't wait to see the look on your progressive faces when after you finally get the Public Option health insurance, you call the doctor to make an appointment the receptionist asks you what insurance you have and tells you, "Sorry but we don't take your plan".
She's right, doctors can opt out of accepting any insurance they want. And the government won't want to strong arm them, as we don't have enough doctors NOW!

[Honabet]

J Jennifer: We already have the situation you describe. If you have an HMO, as so many of
us do who are less than rich, the doctor says "no thanks." That what I heard at least 6
times when I needed a new primary doctor - and we're talking New York. The health reform currently being proposed specificially does not change your physician if you want to keep him/her.
It may prevent people from going into bankruptcy when faced with the costs of major illness.

[hhayden]

And where will we get more when the government makes it an unsavory situation? Who wil want to become a government paid and controlled doctor? It seems that they want to under pay and over work them like they do teachers. It costs a lot to go through medical school. Why won't our best a brightest go into something where they can control their own destiny, excell and reap their own rewards from hard work?

[JJennifer]

"Having passed more important legislation in his first few months of office than any other president, I'd say he is doing fine.

rinpochet, like most people who say that, you aren't paying attention: he has increased the debt FIVE times what it was when he took office, taken over banks, car companies, insurance companies, had massive job loss, cap and trade which will put tarriffs on our trading partners, sending more jobs overseas and cost every man woman and child a minimum of $1000.00 a year when it is implimented and much more after that, enfeebled the dollar, and now wants to take over health care, further impoverishing us. Yeah, he is doing just fine.

[hhayden]

He's trying to run as much past us as he can before even the Obamatrons catch on. If his plans were so good they should stand up under scrutany and debate. Nothing is so important it has to be approved today without even a reading.

[JJennifer]

"What happened to Obama between the campaign and the swearing-in."
He got elected, so now he can do what he wants to do, not what he promised. Can anyone point to ONE promise he has kept? Except for remaking America of course. How do you like this change of five times as much debt as the day he took office and no end in sight?

[hhayden]

I wonder how many lies Obama will have to tell to get the attention of the Zombies?

They all forget their campaign promises when elected.

[DGeorges]

he has kept some of his promises. reform in health care is going on right now, he wants a public option and i think he will get it, he is closing the prison in cuba, he made the image of america better around the world and he is seizing and end the ireali conflict.

and he has:
Expand loan programs for small businesses
Direct military leaders to end war in Iraq

just because he makes promises that he can't fulfill doesn't mean he didn't try. we have 3 branches of government all vying for power. if he had the final word of everything, this would be democracy

[JJennifer]

Vanmungo, I don't know where you are getting your information, but it is patently false. We have the best health care in the world, I didn't see Castro staying home during his last illness, he came to the USA, as does every other world leader when they need the best care.
As for socialized medicine, there are WAY more deaths from cancer and heart trouble in other countries because you have to wait so long for the initial exam, and hope your cancer or bad heart doesn't mind waiting as well. My best friend's dad in Germany died needing a bypass but they said he was too old, my mom had that operation at the age of eighty in the good old USA.

[hhayden]

Very good points.

Unfortunately the blind can' see. (Metaphorically speaking)

[hhayden]

"Can't see".