As politics swirl, both sides prepare for health care summit

With the White House health summit quickly approaching, members from both sides of the aisle "are pressing story lines on how the reform debate has played out that aren't as tidy or truthful as Democrats and Republicans would like voters to believe," Politico reports. "The summit could help reset the negotiations, but with [President Barack] Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, other top administration officials and 37 lawmakers all in attendance, the likelihood of a serious breakthrough appears dim." Politico presents the top five myths the sides are perpetuating including that Republicans were sidelined in the process and that Obama was always committed to bipartisanship (Budoff Brown, 2/15).

Roll Call reports that Republicans, although they expect little from the summit except for a "political farce," likely will attend the Feb. 25 meeting -- "perhaps for their own public relations reasons — though they are already labeling the summit a failure. ... In a letter to Congressional leaders dated Friday, White House officials outlined a summit designed to compare comprehensive health care reform legislation passed by the Democrats late last year to a comprehensive GOP alternative — which does not exist. The administration has additionally predetermined the four health care policy subjects to be debated." The subjects are insurance reforms, cost containment, expanding coverage and the impact health reform legislation will have on deficit reduction, according to the letter. "The administration has pledged to put its health care bill online in advance of the meeting, and the letter asks the GOP to put its 'comprehensive' alternative online as well." Republicans are saying that the summit will amount to little more than a public relations exercise (Drucker, 2/15).

The Hill reports that White House officials did not invite House or Senate Budget Committee leaders to the summit. "Obama's administration on Friday released a list of its invitees to the Feb. 25 summit, but topping the conspicuous absences were the top budget-writers in each chamber. For the Senate, the list excluded Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), the ranking Budget Committee member who in recent weeks has been publicly courting the Obama administration for a seat at the table in the talks, and committee chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.)." The list of people who were invited, however, include 12 Congressional Democrats and nine Republicans "with an option for House and Senate leaders to add four other members of their choice" (Rushing, 2/13).

Politico reports in a separate story that Democratic incumbents up for re-election are themselves facing stiff opposition from liberal groups buying ads "likely to target the party's already vulnerable incumbents. They won't disclose many details such as who the targets will be, or the size of the buys, but they do say they will release new polling that shows support for including a government-run insurance plan, the so-called public option, in health care reform — an idea left for dead in Congress some months ago." Groups may risk, however, exacerbating the divisions among Democrats, Politico reports. "They also risk deflating the Democratic Party activist base if lawmakers don't pass legislation that meets its expectations" (Cummings, 2/16).

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This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.