Today's OpEds: Questioning transparency, the bipartisan summit and starting anew

Claims Of Backroom Deals A Distraction Politico
Hours of health care debate were broadcast on C-SPAN for the dozen or so Americans who were watching. Some of the negotiations were not broadcast, but why demand of the health reform bill a level of transparency not required of any other legislation? Does anyone know what is in the most recent farm bill, which costs two-thirds as much as the health reform legislation will? (Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, 2/9).

The Summit Gambit The Wall Street Journal
The true White House purpose is to create a Republican foil. ObamaCare has sunk under its own weight, so the idea is to revive it by suggesting that the choice is between it and GOP ideas. This helps explain why the President and his budget director, Peter Orszag, have gone out of their way to trash Wisconsin Republican Paul Ryan's reform 'road map' in recent days for 'cutting' Medicare (2/9).

Fix Health Care Now Or Pay Later Jackson [Tennessee] Sun
The health care reform plan put forth by the Obama administration is all but dead in Washington. Clearly, it was not the solution Americans were hoping for. But that doesn't mean the country isn't in desperate need of health care reform. It is time for Obama and lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to go back to the drawing board and to come up with a reform plan everyone can live with, and that includes getting people back to work so they can get and keep affordable health insurance (2/9). 

Starting Anew With Health Care Reform Best Course For Nation The Morning Journal [Northern Ohio]
As health care spending continues to grow in the United States, President Obama's call for a bipartisan meeting on health care reform could be a good starting point for Republicans and Democrats. That is if Democrats agree to scrap the already approved budget-busting House and Senate bills and start anew to properly reform health care by having meaningful negotiations with Republicans (2/9).

It's Time To Rally Around Obama's Agenda The Philadelphia Inquirer
And while politicians and shortsighted voters continue to rail against health-care reform, the number of uninsured Americans continues to rise - now at almost 50 million - while 14,000 people lose their health insurance every day (Annette John-Hall, 2/9).

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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.