In Letter, President Obama Nods to Republicans on Health Care

WASHINGTON (March 2) -- For all the talking he did at last week's bipartisan health care summit, President Barack Obama apparently was listening.

In a letter to congressional leaders today, Obama outlined four ideas raised by Republicans at Blair House that he said are worth exploring and possibly adding to his plan to reform the health care system:

Going undercover. Obama liked Sen. Tom Coburn's "interesting suggestion" that medical professionals pose as patients to uncover fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicaid, Medicare and other federal programs.
Demonstrating change. Noting that his plan already calls for $23 million for demonstration projects to address medical malpractice disputes, including health courts, the president said he is open to adding $50 million in additional grants to offer states incentives to find solutions that work. He cited ideas discussed by Coburn and other Republicans, including Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, at the summit.
Increasing doctor fees. Obama cited Sen. Charles Grassley's concern, "shared by many Democrats," that Medicaid reimbursements are too low in many states, leading to a shortage of doctors willing to treat low-income patients. He said if Medicaid is expanded to cover more people -- a key priority in Democratic plans -- "we should consider increasing doctor reimbursement." But, he added, only "in a fiscally responsible manner."
Expanding options. Taking a cue from Republican Sen. John Barrasso's pitch to expand health savings accounts, Obama noted that HSAs are best used in conjunction with high-deductible health plans to encourage more cost-consciousness among consumers. Obama said he was open to including such plans in his proposed health exchanges, despite a pointed exchange with the Wyoming senator over just such catastrophic plans last week.

The president also acknowledged that Republicans were right to speak out against special deals in the Senate and House health bills. He noted that his proposal, released before the summit, already eliminated extra benefits for Florida seniors that Sen. John McCain took issue with at the summit. He also said the so-called "Cornhusker Kickback" was gone.

If the letter was meant as a peace offering to Republicans, who have stood pat in their demand that Congress start over on a new health care bill, it may not bring peace. Obama noted there remain "important areas of disagreement," most notably over the role of government to regulate the health insurance industry.

"I believe we must insist on some commonsense rules of the road to hold insurance companies accountable for the decisions they make to raise premiums and deny coverage," he said. "I don't believe we can afford to leave life-and-death decisions about health care for America's families to the discretion of insurance company executives alone."

Obama also made clear he wants a comprehensive bill, not "piecemeal reform."

"Both parties agree that the health care status quo is unsustainable," Obama wrote. "After decades of trying, we're closer than we've ever been to making health insurance reforms a reality."

Apparently Republicans don't agree. "There is no reason to lump sensible proposals into a fundamentally flawed 2,000-page bill with taxpayer funding for abortion and more than 150 new federal programs, boards, and commissions that put bureaucrats between patients and their doctors," House Minority Leader John Boehner said in a statement. "The American people want the president to start over with a clean sheet of paper on step-by-step common-sense reforms to lower health care costs, and with this letter, he has officially said 'no.'"