The White House Healthcare Summit

While some viewed the summit as a good example of American political theater, I viewed as weak.  I remember very distinctly the true political theater of the Watergate Hearings where many of us hung on every twitch of Sam Ervin’s eyebrows and, where both sides of the aisle expressed dismay at the events.  As the select group of Republican and Democrat lawmakers left Blair House last Thursday, it seemed that the day ended precisely as it had begun. Through a seven hour televised meeting that was aired live neither side seemed to agree on anything.  The divide seems to have left President Obama with little choice but to rally his own party to support some form of healthcare reform.  The Summit was clearly a wake for a bipartisan approach.  At this point, reconciliation is the only option left for Democrats. 

Though seemingly well intentioned, Obama’s Summit failed to create any sense of collective action. Instead, the day served largely as a soapbox for the key legislators to once again voice their opinion on a host of topics related to the healthcare reform debate.  No votes were changed and no positions moved.  President Obama’s frustration was evident through the process along with his expansive understanding of the details under debate.  I don’t remember any prior President having such a command of the subject matter.

While the Summit was a gesture toward collaboration, the walk away impression was “no way”.  Issuing a gallant effort, President Obama tried to unite Congressional leaders around the fact that the country’s healthcare system is on a road to disaster and needs to be fixed. One item that seemed to draw the attention of the President was a proposal by Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) who set forth his idea to create a set of undercover regulators posing as patients that would catch doctors and hospitals in fraud.  Other ideas that seemed to garner widespread support were measures to extend dependent coverage for children. Though neither party exited the meeting feeling optimistic in the chances of working together to pass reform, the spotlight now shifts once again to the Democrats who are resigned to passing a health bill sometime this year.

Meanwhile, as the House passed their own proposal to strip the insurance industry’s antitrust exemption this week, putting further pressure on the Senate to find a way to bring healthcare reform to a close. While the Healthcare Summit failed to produce any significant accomplishments on the issue that has dominated the country’s domestic agenda for the last year, the meeting put Congress’ reform efforts back on Page A1 of the newspapers. With the attention and limelight back on healthcare, the pressure is now on the Democrats more than ever to pass a final bill and resolve the issue. While it certainly will not be pretty, we can surely expect more theatrics in the coming weeks…

Kevin Fickenscher, MD

The views and opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of Dell Services or its affiliates.