Obama would OK health bill minus items he pursued

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Signaling he'd meet critics part way on health care, President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he's willing to sign a bill even if it doesn't deliver everything he pursued through a year of grinding effort at risk of going down as a dismal failure.

The Democrats' massive health overhaul legislation is stalled in Congress by disagreements within the party and the loss last month of their 60th Senate vote, and with it, control of the agenda. Republicans suspect that Obama's invitation to a televised health care summit Feb. 25 is a thinly disguised political trap. On Tuesday, the president tried to change the dour dynamic, indicating he could settle for less in order to move ahead.

"Let's put the best ideas on the table," Obama told reporters after meeting with congressional leaders of both parties. "My hope is that we can find enough overlap that we can say, this is the right way to move forward, even if I don't get every single thing that I want."

Obama's overarching goals are to rein in medical costs and expand coverage to millions of uninsured. Specifically, Obama said he'd be willing to work on ways to limit medical malpractice lawsuits — one of the main ideas Republicans have for reducing costs, by addressing the problem of defensive medicine. Democrats, who count trial lawyers among their most generous contributors, especially in an election year, have blocked all previous attempts to tackle the issue.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100210/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul

Limit medical malpractice.

Thats good. Let's ask John Murtha how he feels about Tort Reform, oh wait a minute we can't because of Medical Malpractice

This is the only thing that prevents bad medicine. They do not police themselves, they only cover up. Been there, done that.

if we had some ham..."


:donut:

NO approach, and calls on them to explain in public their objections.

Of course, if Obama does not fight for meaningful reform vs that piece of shit bill, it will be a useless exercise.

:hi:

Thats what happens when winning and ego get in the way of common sense.

He'll be either out of office or unable to run for re-election when this thing really kicks in, so what does he care?

See, for example, Reply #82 on this thread from August, 2009.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4017164#4017290

Just to check it off the list as a "win?"

Think about it -- these people have been claiming it is HEALTH*CARE* Reform, when in actuality it is an insurance industry bailout. They've adopted the republican rule -- call something by a *good* name, even if it doesn't apply to what you are doing - and use that name often enough -- people will actually BUY the lie.

Sad.

As late as spring of 1940, Chamberlain still believed that Germany would mend its ways and withdraw from Poland. This is what appeasement gets you!

there really isn't any reason left to support his admin. My focus for the next three years will be finding overseas employment and trying not to let my savings lose all of its value.

At this point I would place the odds on President Palin at least 3:2, and every decision the administration makes it goes up.

It may not be possible, but I'm sure going to try.

Can't do it at the present time, due to family circumstances, but I'm already looking at future options.

An excerpt from
The Medical Malpractice Myth
Tom Baker

Medical malpractice premiums are skyrocketing. “Closed” signs are sprouting on health clinic doors. Doctors are leaving the field of medicine, and those who remain are practicing in fear and silence. Pregnant women cannot find obstetricians. Billions of dollars are wasted on defensive medicine. And angry doctors are marching on state capitols across the country.

All this is because medical malpractice litigation is exploding. Egged on by greedy lawyers, plaintiffs sue at the drop of a hat. Juries award eye-popping sums to undeserving claimants, leaving doctors, hospitals, and their insurance companies no choice but to pay huge ransoms for release from the clutches of the so-called “civil justice” system. Medical malpractice litigation is a sick joke, a roulette game rigged so that plaintiffs and their lawyers’ numbers come up all too often, and doctors and the honest people who pay in the end always lose.

This is the medical malpractice myth.

Built on a foundation of urban legend mixed with the occasional true story, supported by selective references to academic studies, and repeated so often that even the mythmakers forget the exaggeration, half truth, and outright misinformation employed in the service of their greater good, the medical malpractice myth has filled doctors, patients, legislators, and voters with the kind of fear that short circuits critical thinking.

This fear has inspired legislative action on a nationwide scale three times in my lifetime. The first time was back in the mid-1970s. I remember sitting at the dinner table listening to my father report what he’d heard at his medical society meeting: “Medical malpractice insurance premiums are going through the roof. Frivolous litigation and runaway juries will drive doctors out of the profession.” The answer, the medical societies and their insurance companies said, was medical malpractice tort reform—to make it harder for misguided patients and their lawyers to sue.

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/036480.html

even if it's Cantor's and Boehner's bill.

He's going to compromise and sell us out and we'll wind up even worse off than before.

Or maybe this is just some more "Chess we can believe in"?

in it! I mean, REALLY!!!!!!11111111111

Stupid me for thinking the huge majorities we fought for and won actually had meaning...

Stupid me for thinking the huge majorities we fought for and won actually had meaning...

politicians work for their constituents - the people who voted them into office - not the other way around.

Hoping this makes it make more sense to you. The Executive Branch cannot do anything alone without Congress's help. Hence, congress will follow what the president is asking for more closely.

When will the blinkers and earplugs, along with the matching jackboots, be passed out for the *followers*?

So save your insults for someone else. I am sure they will be needed elsewhere more.

Thanks Rahm. Thanks Barack. Thanks Democrats.

I'd thank more people, but I hear the music in the background, and I see the hook over therrrrrrr . . . achchch.

You know, when I voted for Barack Obama for senator in 2004, he was, without any reservations, for single payer. Now, he says it would be too disruptive. I've asked, but I've yet to get an answer.

Hey, anyone who has a clue, HOW THE FUCK WOULD IT BE TOO DISRUPTIVE? (I wouldn't have to yell or swear if I had received an answer anytime in the past year!)

Anyone?

Buefuckingler?

Better call Big Pharma and Big Insurance before you offer to "settle for less". They might not like giving away any of what they stand to gain from their backdoor deals with the White House. "Reform" my ass.

Didn't even consider single payer. (We started the debate from an already compromised position.)
Public option was defeated in the press.
Co-ops didn't really even leave committee.
Triggered public option lasted for an hour or two until Snowe decided she didn't even support her own idea anymore.
The public option branded as Medicare for all was another blip that didn't even last a day.

For me, fixing the rising cost of insurance was the biggest issue that I thought we should be tackling. Instead we have given up on that idea. Cost has to be the issue that touches the most Americans in healthcare, even more than things like recisions and denial of pre-existing conditions. What I don't get is that the huge inflation on healthcare pricing is not healthy for most businesses either, but the companies seem to be unwilling to upset their insurance company buddies and buck the trend.

The 'Publicans know this, and are aiming for a complete defeat of the issue, not just any particular bill.

--d!
Chronically Ill with a Dog in the Fight Since 1976

during the campaign. I was (stupidly, in retrospect) sucked into all of that. Now I'm thinking if I had wanted Republican policies, I would have voted Republican.

Boy do I feel like an idiot now.

t.

goals.

Well, day before yesterday, anyway.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4262627

Just take it to reconciliation and put everything in it that republicans and Blue Cross dogs hate.

Rub their corparasite noses in it.

to get it passed, even if nothing is in it, you would still be in denial.This isn't HCR , this is a PR stunt. now the people are being sold a out again by tort reform. heck, why should private citizens be able to sur coporations anyway? GRRRR.Just another GOP concession.Exactly WHEN does thee conceding end?

That's when we'll finally nail it.. :sarcasm:

She was being wooed again after the loss in MA. I'm sure we'll revisit her again.. :eyes:

have absolutely no posts that tolerate even the mildest of criticisms. Whatever.But I guess we'll never know because it is extremely unlikely The President would ever give me a winning powerball ticket! I would be just as happy if he would guarantee my health care but that isn't going to happen either!:rofl:

From your conclusions, it seems not. That's what I'm responding to. How can any truth penetrate such blanket cynicism.

how it might look bad for the GOP if they don't participate.Premium hikes. Blah, blah, blah.The president is basically offering yet MORE compromise and the bill is already worthless, and i say this as one who has already been denied coverage.This isn't an HCR. This is a PR stunt to get a win.

You keep saying this is a PR stunt to get a win. Do you really believe not a single person will benefit from the passage of the bill and that it's all show for the cameras?

Big Pharma already has.

Is feeling good and living in a false reality REALLY this important, America?

How obvious does it have to get that NO ONE from EITHER party is willing to represent the people?

How much is this country willing to be abused before it fights back?

It's simply amazing.

The more obvious it gets, the deeper into denial people go.

Really? I don't think the folks at Mad as Hell Doctors or Physicians for a Nat'l Health Plan would agree that you're serious about looking at good ideas. We could begin a transition to single-payer, end the two wars of choice, bring the troops home, offer soldiers medical training if they want it, and begin to transition to a civilized nation. Or, we can do it the DLC way and enslave the American public via mandates to private mafiosi cartel unregulated insurance companies.