The health care summit
By RICHARD DAVIS
Brattleboro Reformer
Wednesday, March 11
Last Thursday, President Obama hosted a health care summit at the White House. He invited 125 of the most influential people involved in health care reform in the U.S.
The list included all of the usual suspects.
There was the infamous Billy Tauzin, former congressman who now heads the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest lobbying company.
Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy was elevated to almost Pope-like status in the health care reform world merely by his presence.
The insurance companies and the drug companies and the providers were well represented. There was also a cross section of members of Congress, including Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders.
Obama was making a public show of trying to get it right this time by inviting people with differing views. He was making it clear that he was moving beyond the mistakes of the past.
We should not be naive enough to think this summit was anything more than a PR event. Of course, that may not be such a bad thing. Symbolism is important. The summit marks the official start of the Obama plan to enact meaningful health care reform before the end of the year. Political pundits think that means that legislation has to make it to the President’s desk by Labor Day.
This event also made it clear that the White House will now be the people’s house. I was able to sit at my computer and watch all of the proceedings of the summit from
Obama’s opening and closing remarks to glimpses of all five breakout sessions. I kept moving from one session to another, trying to figure out who was in the room and whether or not it would be worth hearing what they had to say.
The speechifying was predictable. There were the status quo holders of the drug and insurance industry and there were the coy politicians who really didn’t say what they meant or reveal what that thought, other than to talk around the issue. Yet it was truly an event where just showing up was the most important thing.
From my point of view, as someone who believes we need to enact a national single payer system yesterday, things were disappointing. The prospects for meaningful reform seem slim, but I am cautiously optimistic that a least a few shreds of good will come from the Obama initiative.
The Obama team wants to offer a public insurance plan to compete with private insurance. They are also talking about eliminating exclusions for pre-existing conditions and waiting periods for all insurance.
Opponents are preparing the next round of Harry and Louise ads. They will raise the specter of socialized medicine and the evils of government run health care. Their argument will fail this time not only because it isn’t true, but also because people are hurting so much that they understand what changes need to be made.
Vermonters can feel good about their representation at the summit as well as having strong voices for sensible health care reform in Washington. If it were not for Sanders’ remarks during a breakout session, I think I would have been less hopeful when I finally clicked the last tab to exit the live feed.
The camera was at Sanders’ back and every time someone spoke who had a viewpoint that was antithetical to his, you could see him squirming in his seat. I kept thinking that was me and half the state of Vermont feeling uncomfortable, hearing statements that would kill any hope of serious reform.
When Sanders’ turn came to speak he said, “It is insane that 56 million Americans today do not have access to a doctor.” Then he went on to say that this country needs a single payer system. He even had the courage to confront the power brokers by saying that the insurance companies are the problem with our health care system and that their profiteering is harming people.
I’m sure most of those at Sanders’ session quickly dismissed his remarks as coming from “that socialist from Vermont.” But that guy from Vermont represents the viewpoint of millions of Americans and he will never let his opponents forget that.
Sanders sees hope for reform in increasing support for Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC), something he has championed for years.
In remarks before the summit he said, “The United States has to join the rest of the major nations of the world and have a national health care program that addresses the enormous waste and bureaucracy in our current system. I am pleased that we have made significant success in the stimulus bill on primary health care by doubling resources devoted to Federally Qualified Health Centers and tripling the amount for training health care professionals.”
He summed up the day’s event saying, “I think it was a very good meeting. Our health care system is disintegrating and I very much appreciate the president stepping up to the plate and wanting to move rapidly on it. The president understands that we need universal health care for every man, woman and child. So I think we are off to a good start and I applaud the president.”
And I applaud Bernie.
Richard Davis is a registered nurse and executive director of Vermont Citizens Campaign for Health. He writes from Guilford and welcomes comments at rbdav@comcast.net.