We don’t have a touchdown on health care reform yet, but it’s safe to give it up to White House and Democratic leaders in Congress.
They deserve a round of applause (no ovation yet) for moving the legislation farther down the field than any other U.S. government in history – and not dropping the ball on the much maligned public option.
"A public option that competes with private insurers is the best way to ensure choice and competition that are so badly needed in today's market,” President Obama reinforced last week after Democratic leaders unwrapped the legislation before the U.S. Congress – and the American public.
With a lead in the public opinion polls, the Dems are managing to come out on top.
Even at this crucial juncture in the health care legislative process, when Congress is hard at work and the media is taking a bit of a time-out – sharing air time with Afghanistan, the economy, gay marriage and other issues – the president’s team is still looking to the end zone on health care reform.
In fact, according to White House officials, they are looking beyond it: to successful implementation of the new health care policy when it becomes law.
“The administration is investing more than $1 billion from the Recovery Act and the president’s budget to develop and train future doctors, nurses and other health care professionals, and provide additional support to help meet future health care needs,” says White House spokesman Corey Ealons. “The proposed health reform packages also contain resources for investing in health care workers.”
The idea, according to Ealons, is to improve health care overall but also to ensure that the health care system can absorb the increased numbers of patients using it and that it can withstand the changes being made to it by the time the reform laws take effect in 2013.
So far, the Democrats are winning the national debate on health care reform against a vocal, formidable – and sometimes ruthless – Republican opposition that rallied its best lineup this past summer.
Timed strategically to the slow news days of the last congressional recess, the GOP opposition swelled, capturing the most public attention before beginning to fizzle. Since the loud debates of the past summer have cooled, the Dems have rolled out stronger ads. The president – buttressed by stronger data (including a Congressional Budget Office report that confirmed the cost of the bill will not increase the deficit) to support the case for reform – has been more resolute .
Finally, Dems have begun to warm the hearts of a cynical public. Opinion polls now show 57 percent of Americans support health care reform with a public option.
Clearly, voters have always favored improvements to the health care system. But they’ve always remained doubtful of the Democratic leadership’s ability to deliver victory in a way that neither upends the current health care system as we know it nor increases cost for improved levels of care than most people get now.
Ealons says other steps have been or are being taken to make sure the legislation is a success.
They include an investment of $300 million through the Recovery Act in the National Health Service Corps that specifically targets underserved rural and urban areas, and a sharp increase in federal grant and scholarship funds to train health care professionals.
Democrats should continue to be thoughtful, far-sighted and strategic, always setting clear goals that meet public standards but leaving room for intra-party debate and negotiation between liberals and Blue-Dog moderates -- and the White House, of course. They will continue to come out with winning legislation most people can agree with, even without Republican votes.
And even though, the details might not meet the muster of liberals or conservatives, they will have the consensus and backing of the people that matter most: the majority of Americans in the middle who want common-sense solutions forged from the best ideas of Republicans and Democrats.