In Speech to Congress, President Obama Says ‘Now Is the Time’ To Invest in Health Care, Other Areas To Grow Economy

President Obama on Tuesday during a speech to a joint session of Congress called for investments in health care and other areas to "grow our economy, even as we make hard choices to bring our deficit down," USA Today reports (Hall/Jackson, USA Today, 2/25). Obama said that, although such investments will have significant costs, the "cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade" (Parsons/Nicholas, Los Angeles Times, 2/25).

According to Obama, health care reform "cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year" (Shear/Kornblut, Washington Post, 2/25). He added, "I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process" (Wolf, USA Today, 2/25). In addition, Obama promised to expand access to health insurance and limit the growth of health care costs (Weisman, Wall Street Journal, 2/25). He said that the outline of his fiscal year 2010 budget, which he plans to release on Thursday, will include a "historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform, a down payment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American" (Los Angeles Times, 2/25). Health care costs cause a "bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds," Obama said, adding, "By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes" (Rogers, The Politico, 2/24).

In addition, Obama promised to address the costs of entitlement programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, in his budget proposal (Wall Street Journal, 2/25). He said, "We will root out the waste, fraud and abuse in our Medicare program that doesn't make our seniors any healthier" (Epstein, CQ Today, 2/24). Obama also promised to "seek a cure for cancer in our time" (Dinan, Washington Times, 2/25). He also cited the need for investment in electronic health records and health care information technology (Budoff Brown, The Politico, 2/25).

Speech Lacked Details on Health Care
According to the New York Times, Obama "was vague about how he intends to make health care more affordable and accessible, saying only that the budget he will release on Thursday will make a down payment on the goal of 'quality, affordable health care for every American'" (Zeleny, New York Times, 2/25).

In addition, Obama did not provide details on his plans for "reducing the ranks of the more than 47 million Americans without coverage, a potentially contentious process that is sure to stoke an ideological battle over government's role in providing health care" or "how his administration would begin wringing savings from the gargantuan health care system, a process likely to be equally difficult," according to the Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles Times, 2/25).

"Obama's speech contained several caveats and deliberately avoided language that could box in Obama as he turns swiftly toward health reform in coming weeks," The Politico reports (Gerstein, The Politico, 2/25).

Republican Response
After the speech, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) delivered the official Republican response (Bacon, Washington Post, 2/25). In his response, Jindal said, "Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy," adding, "What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line and saddle future generations with debt." He said, "It's irresponsible," adding, "Republicans have a responsibility to ... offer better ideas for a path forward" (Fritze, USA Today, 2/25).

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said, "The president deserves much credit for his willingness to tackle health care reform, the budget deficit, Social Security and the recession all at once" (Wolf, USA Today, 2/25).

In addition, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said that the enactment of health care reform legislation is possible this year "because I think that the inflation associated with health care is so severe, as the president correctly stated, it's affecting all of our economy." He added, "Certainly a lot of us are eager to work with the president on that issue" (Alexander, Reuters, 2/24).

Editorials

• Baltimore Sun: "The public is showing its appreciation for [Obama's] straight talk" and he "will have to take full advantage of his solid public support and walk an artful line if he is to successfully negotiate the myriad problems confronting the nation," including health care, a Sun editorial states. According to the editorial, Obama's explanation that the U.S. health care system must be reformed to "achieve a brighter future" reinforces an agenda that "may seem daunting." However, the editorial continues, "America does have the means and strength to rescue itself from this [economic] predicament, and Mr. Obama has a plan" (Baltimore Sun, 2/25).
  
  
• New York Times: Obama "pledged to make health care reform an immediate top priority," and said "he suffered 'no illusions' that the process would be easy but insisted that it 'cannot wait, it must not wait and it will not wait another year,'" according to a Times editorial. The Times states, "The president is right," adding, "The growing ranks of unemployed and uninsured Americans need health coverage, and shaky businesses need relief from the burden of high health care costs." According to the editorial, "The time to move boldly and rapidly on health care reform is now, while the need is great and Mr. Obama's popularity is still high" (New York Times, 2/25).
  
  
• USA Today: "Republicans and Democrats jointly acknowledged at the summit meeting that the nation's runaway spending on health care and retirement needs to be controlled," and "it is encouraging to see how [Obama's] responsibility theme appears to be developing momentum," a USA Today editorial states. According to USA Today, "If anything, the problems the nation faces are even more daunting than [Obama] described," with the national debt reaching $10.8 trillion. "But even that gargantuan number grossly underestimates the problem posed by the coming baby boom retirement and the surging costs of Medicare, Medicaid and other health care spending," USA Today states, adding, "Without dramatic and politically difficult action, the nation can look forward to an era of sinking living standards and economic decline -- and that's after recovering from the recession" (USA Today, 2/25).
  
  
• Wall Street Journal: Obama suggested he could finance a health care overhaul with "a combination of a budget scrubbing plus a tax increase on a mere 2% of American taxpayers," according to a Journal editorial. The Journal continues, "The president said his staff has already found $2 trillion in spending savings, and we look forward to those details," adding, "As for those 2%, they are a lot poorer than they used to be and in any case there aren't enough of them to come close to paying for Mr. Obama's plans." According to the Journal, "Despite the president's protests, the American middle class will eventually be asked to pay far more than they do now." Obama "clearly believes the recession has created a political moment when Americans are frightened enough to be open to a new era of expanded government," the editorial states. It adds, "The question is whether his vast ambitions will allow the private economy to grow enough even to begin to pay for it all" (Wall Street Journal, 2/25).
  
  
• Washington Post: By saying he would "press ahead with plans to overhaul the nation's health care system," as well as addressing other challenges amid an "economic crisis, a banking crisis, a housing crisis and an auto industry crisis," Obama might end up spreading his political capital "so broadly that he is left without the means to extinguish the fires raging now," a Post editorial states. The editorial states, "[W]e cannot help wondering: Isn't the most critical task to ensure a swift and effective response to the stomach-churning downturn? Does a new, understaffed administration have the capacity to try so much so fast? And does the political system have the bandwidth to accommodate all that Mr. Obama is asking from it?" (Washington Post, 2/25).

Opinion Pieces

• Marie Cocco, Akron Beacon Journal: The premise that entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are "bankrupting the country and weighting down generations of younger Americans" has pressed the idea of "entitlement reform," which is "a monument to the dark art of disinformation," Cocco, a syndicated columnist, writes in a Journal opinion piece. Cocco writes, "President Obama knows this," but he "continues to lend too much of his credibility to the conventional thinking ... that somehow the 'entitlement' crisis has to be confronted -- and now." According to Cocco, "Even though costs are growing swiftly, this doesn't represent a crisis" in Medicare or Medicaid. Instead, it's a "crisis in health care," Cocco states, adding, "Independent studies have repeatedly shown that Medicare is as efficient -- in many ways, more so -- than the private insurance industry." She concludes, "When it comes to entitlements, the last thing we need is an 'entitlement commission.' What we really need is a truth commission" (Cocco, Akron Beacon Journal, 2/25).
  
  
• E.J. Dionne, Washington Post: In his speech, Obama "argued that health care reform was an economic and fiscal necessity, not simply a moral imperative on behalf of the uninsured," columnist Dionne writes in a Post opinion piece, adding, "The new math of health care creates new possibilities, presidential aides said, rooted in a new consensus for reform across ideological lines." He writes, "Aware that it is battling anti-government assumptions that are deeply rooted after a long conservative era, the administration will campaign to demonstrate that the stimulus money is being spent wisely and on programs the public sees as worthy." Dionne states, "Obama's rhetoric is soothing and his approach is inclusive. But he is proposing nothing less than an ideological transformation" (Dionne, Washington Post, 2/25).
  
  
• Holman Jenkins, Wall Street Journal: Policymakers need to "[p]ut away the idea that more government control is the cure for health care," Journal columnist Jenkins writes. According to Jenkins, "We already bribe, through supremely asinine tax policy, the most affluent, capable consumers on the planet not to use their smarts to make sure the system returns value for money." Jenkins continues, "Let's fix this -- by eliminating the tax subsidy for employer-provided health insurance. Then it might actually become economically feasible to subsidize health care for the needy" (Jenkins, Wall Street Journal, 2/25).
  
  
• Ruth Marcus, Washington Post: Obama's plan to "put the country on a sustainable fiscal path" requires several "bets," the "biggest and most important" of which is "that the government can get health care costs under control even while expanding coverage," columnist Marcus writes in a Post opinion piece. This effort requires three things, the "first two of which were launched ... in the stimulus package": the expansion of computerized medical records and the assessment of comparative effectiveness, according to Marcus. She writes, "The trickiest part will be the third: using that information not only to improve care but to lower costs." According to Marcus, "Someone, or some entity, has to make ... hard choices -- which means some pharmaceutical company, medical device maker, hospital or doctor will lose out." She writes, "This approach requires a discipline that Washington hasn't exactly demonstrated." Lawmakers should "try it -- but not in lieu of making reasonable changes in Medicare itself, and not just to providers or insurers. Some beneficiaries are going to have to pay more, or receive less," she writes (Marcus, Washington Post, 2/25).

Broadcast Coverage
NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday reported on the Obama speech (Gonyea, "Morning Edition," NPR, 2/25).

In addition, NPR's "Morning Edition" on Wednesday examined how small-business owners seek action on health care reform by Obama and Congress (Silberner, "Morning Edition," NPR, 2/25).