This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Sept. 9, 2009 - President Barack Obama ignited lots of passions - on both sides of the region’s political aisle - with Wednesday’s address in which he laid out his views on many aspects of the health-care debate that has consumed Congress and much of the country over the summer.
But judging from the initial reaction, Obama’s call for changing the nation’s current health-care system appeared to change few partisan minds. Democrats generally lauded his speech, while Republicans appeared to loathe much of his message.
“You can repaint an outhouse but it won't change the smell,’’ said Missouri’s senior U.S. senator, Republican Christopher “Kit” Bond, in a statement fired off within minutes after the end of the president’s hour-long address. “Americans want more than a new speech, they want a new plan.”
One of the few points on which Bond agreed with Obama was the need to bar insurance companies from using pre-existing conditions or illness to deny coverage.
However, Obama got strong marks from his biggest Democratic booster in the state, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill. She praised him for “correcting all the misinformation that has been spread,’’ such as GOP accusations - which the president denied - that change would lead to rationing or federal money for abortions.
Overall, McCaskill said: “He did a great job of explaining that the price of doing nothing is much too steep and those who are blocking health-care reform are engaged in very risky behavior.”
Obama’s chief point was that the nation cannot afford or tolerate the current setup, which he said is too costly to government and to the public.
“We did not come here to fear the future. We came here to shape it,’’ he declared during one of his biggest applause lines of the night.
The estimated cost of most Democratic proposals is $900 billion over 10 years, which the president said was “less than the cost of the tax cuts approved in the previous administration” or the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama added that he “will not sign a plan that adds one dime to the deficit.”
Although the president declared that he was “not out to put insurance companies out of business,’’ he spent a sizable chunk of his speech blasting the industry for its practices – including its denial of care to policy-holders, lifetime coverage limits, and large profits and salaries.
Obama came out strongly in favor of some sort of public option, which he said would provide help to Americans denied private coverage and discourage insurance companies from engaging in costly practices or charging higher premiums.
He also promised that “not a dollar from the Medicare trust fund’’ will be used to pay for the cost-savings that he and other Democrats have promised.
And Obama made note of the accusations by critics in the 1930s that the creation of Social Security was socialism, and similar accusations in the 1960s that Medicare amounted to a government takeover of health care.
The president summed up his philosophy when he observed that concern about “too much government can be matched by the danger of too little…”
And he began his speech by underscoring his resolve: "I'm not the first president to take up this cause, but I'm committed to being the last."
Bond and McCaskill's different reactions crystallized the starkly different receptions from Democratic and Republican members of Congress, who now will begin the task of actually hammering out -- or blocking -- the health-care changes sought by the president.
Of the five major health-care bills under consideration -- three in the House and two in Senate -- only one has survived a full committee vote. The rest await work in the next few weeks.
On the House side, the region's two Democratic representatives -- Russ Carnahan and William Lacy Clay -- have long supported a health-care overhaul.
Carnahan had brought a guest to Wednesday's speech: Michelle Barron, a small business owner from St. Louis County who his office said "has struggled to afford health insurance herself, her family and her employees."
Carnahan has been a prime target of critics of health-care reform, who have packed and enlivened his forums this summer. Carnahan said that Obama's speech "crystallized the case for health-insurance reform. Now it’s time to lay out the facts and get this done."
Clay said that Obama's address bolstered his commitment to press ahead. "Our current system is unsustainable and it needs to change now, not later," Clay said, detailing the various changes that he seeks.
"I want a bill that eliminates pre-existing conditions; eliminates annual and lifetime benefit caps; ensures patient choice and doctor control over all healthcare decisions; covers the vast majority of the uninsured; and accomplishes all of that in a deficit neutral way.
"I still think that a public option is one of the choices that should be part of the mix, but not the only choice," Clay continued.
But U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-St. Elizabeth, faulted the president for what the congressman called "the cleverly disguised attempt to sell the American people a health care proposal they soundly rejected during the month of August in halls across America."
“Here in the Show-Me State, we expect folks to show us what they have to offer. Instead of a new plan for health care reform, the President showed us again that he supports government control of health care,'' Luetkemeyer added.
Meanwhile, the Missouri Republican Party was extremely critical. Executive director Lloyd Smith contended that Obama's address "simply rehashed his discredited arguments and platitudes about bipartisanship without adding anything substantive to the debate."
“President Obama’s ubiquity is quickly wearing thin with the American people, who have made it clear that a government takeover of our health-care system is unacceptable," Smith added.
Following are the full statements of area members of Congress who have forwarded them, including Missouri's two senators, in response to the president's address:
McCaskill
"After hosting town halls throughout Missouri, I think the president did a good job correcting all the misinformation that has been spread. Now with the stakes made clear, it’s time to work on reasonable health insurance reform that will bring down the cost of health care, improve the way care is provided, and do it in a way that doesn’t saddle our grandchildren with our debt.
“He did a great job of explaining that the price of doing nothing is much too steep and those who are blocking health care reform are engaged in very risky behavior.”
Bond
“Over August those who were listening heard some straight talk from the American people.
“The American people want health-care reform that lowers costs, increases access and improves care, not a government takeover of health care that will increase costs, force millions of Americans off their current health-care plan, raise taxes, increase the deficit and put medical decisions in the hands of a government bureaucrat.
“In short, they do not want government to over-reach, over-manage, over-spend.
“You can repaint an outhouse but it won't change the smell. Americans want more than a new speech, they want a new plan.
“If Democrats in Washington are truly interested in working in a bipartisan way they should scrap their unaffordable plan, start over, and begin with common-sense solutions that both parties support.
“Solutions such as lowering costs for small businesses by allowing them to pool together to provide quality health care like large companies and unions;
--“Expanding community health centers;
--“Getting rid of junk lawsuits that drive up the cost of health care;
--“Preventing insurance companies from denying health care coverage when someone gets sick or because of a preexisting condition;
--“Expanding wellness and prevention programs; and
--“Enrolling low-income Americans in the health care programs they are already eligible for.
Carnahan
“Now is the time to listen to the American people, not push through a partisan government takeover of health care. I hope the President and Democrats act on this message.”
“Tonight, President Obama crystallized the case for health insurance reform. Now it’s time to lay out the facts and get this done. The American people are ready for a common-sense solution. That’s what I have heard from my constituents back in Missouri, and it’s what President Obama called for in his speech.”
Clay
"Tonight, President Obama gave us his bottom line on health insurance reform and his speech provided us with some clear guidelines of what he can live with. He did a great job of explaining to the American people why this is going to benefit both people who have insurance and those who are uninsured.
"My bottom line on health insurance reform has never changed.....the current system is unsustainable and it needs to change now, not later.
"I want a bill that eliminates pre-existing conditions; eliminates annual and lifetime benefit caps; ensures patient choice and doctor control over all healthcare decisions; covers the vast majority of the uninsured; and accomplishes all of that in a deficit neutral way.
I still think that a public option is one of the choices that should be part of the mix, but not the only choice.
"And when it comes down to the final bill, I will not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.
"It may be that health insurance reform legislation will take the same historical path as the landmark Civil Rights bills in the 1960s.
"History shows that the great Civil Rights transformation was accomplished in Congress in several steps, over several years.
"That may be the way to get this done too.
I am standing strongly with the President and our leadership. And I can promise you that we will pass a strong health insurance reform bill this year because that's what the American people voted for."
Luetkemeyer
“I had hoped that the President’s address would mark the beginning of a truly bi-partisan effort to reform health care for all American families, but unfortunately those hopes were dashed by the cleverly disguised attempt to sell the American people a health care proposal they soundly rejected during the month of August in halls across America.
“Here in the Show-Me State, we expect folks to show us what they have to offer. Instead of a new plan for health care reform, the President showed us again that he supports government control of health care. Instead of an affordable way to pay for health care, the President wants to increase the ever-increasing debt burden on future generations. And instead of providing health care relief to small businesses, he is still promoting a plan that will close down small businesses and force people out of work.
“Talk is cheap. And while all of us in Washington agree that we need health care form, I will not support more government intrusion into lives of the hardworking families of Missouri’s 9th District. We need to go back to the drawing board, not recycle the same old bad ideas. We need to work in a bi-partisan fashion rather than issue threats from the bully pulpit. We need to put people before politics and the President has again failed to do that.”
