President Obama's Health Care Reform Push

By GottaLaff

This is a huge priority of President Obama's, and boy, do we need him to succeed on this one:

“The cost of health care now causes a bankruptcy in America every thirty seconds," President Obama will say tomorrow at the White House forum on health care reform, a summit of 150 Democrats, Republicans, and advocates for doctors, nurses, patients, labor unions, and business groups. "By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes.”

“If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy, then we must address the crushing cost of health care this year, in this Administration," the President will say, according to excerpts provided by the White House. "Making investments in reform now, investments that will dramatically lower costs, won’t add to our budget deficits in the long-term – rather, it is one of the best ways to reduce them.”

White House officials say this urgent language is serious -- the president wants to see health care reform enacted and signed into law by the end of 2009. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, the chair of the one of the key congressional committees that the president is entrusting to draft the legislation, says his goal is for the Senate Finance Committee to begin drafting the legislation at the beginning of the Summer, with a bill hitting the floor of the Senate for a vote before the August recess. [...]

C-SPAN, in fact, will be there tomorrow. President Obama will make opening remarks after which attendees will divide into five discussion groups. One of those groups will be broadcast on C-SPAN, the others will be webcast, assuming technology cooperates. The groups will be moderated by administration officials such as Domestic Policy Chair Melody Barnes, OMB director Peter Orszag, NEC Chair Larry Summers, and newly-named White House health care czar Nancy-Ann DeParle.

Following the seminars, the president will lead a discussion with attendees in the East Room of the White House.

[...] President Obama will enumerate his eight health care reform principles tomorrow:

• Guarantee choice of health plans and physicians;
• Making health coverage affordable;
• Protecting families’ financial health;
• Investing in prevention and wellness;
• Providing portability of coverage;
• Aiming for universality;
• Improving patient safety and quality care; and
• Maintaining long-term fiscal sustainability.

White House officials say this will be just the beginning of this process; they've also discussed community discussions to be held.

There's much more over at Jake Tapper's Political Punch. This can't happen soon enough for me, and I'm sure, most, if not all, of you.