On Eve of Health Meeting, Big Questions Still Linger

[TomCADem]

Source: NY Times

Republicans have shown little interest in negotiating a big compromise. Remember how Charles Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, kept moving the goal posts last summer? This is basic game theory: the better Mr. Obama looks, the worse the Republicans’ chances are in the midterm elections. Philosophy plays a role, too. Some Republicans believe it’s not the government’s job to help people get insurance.

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Republicans will use this week’s meeting to point out that the current bills are unpopular and to argue that Mr. Obama is proposing a government takeover of health care. As Representative John Kline of Minnesota, the ranking Republican on a House health committee, told me, “No Republican is going to go back to his home district and say, ‘You know what? I was wrong about the health care bill.’ ”

Mr. Obama will emphasize his plan’s specifics, which tend to be more popular. He is also likely to push Republicans for independent evidence that their ideas would work. At a recent meeting with Republicans, he argued that they couldn’t just say they favored lower health costs. “I mean, that’s an idea we all embrace,” he said.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the House Republicans’ health plan would cover three million people over the next decade and reduce the deficit by $68 billion. Expect the Democrats to note that both the House and Senate bills would cover more than 30 million people and reduce the deficit by about $100 billion.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/business/economy/24leonhardt.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=ig

[pezDispenser]

1. who would unrec this?

i guess that is the age old question