Obama Urges Congress To Haste With Insurance Reform

President Obama has continued to affirm his support of the development of a government-sponsored health insurance program, yet he admitted that the plan would affect potential Republican support for the legislation aimed at restructuring the health care system.

Obama has also mandated a timeline for the Congress to develop comprehensive health care legislation by October 2009.

Maryland senator Barbara A. Mikulski, who met with the President, added this: “He wants the bill through the Senate and the House before the August recess, so we can conference and have it done in September and signed in October.”

“He said we need to be unflinching and unflagging,” said Mikulski.

Prior to the senatorial meeting Obama said, “This is going to be a heavy lift. I think everybody understands that. But I’m also confident that people want to get this done this year.”

Senator Harry Reid chimed in by saying that he was confident that the entire Senate would be able to tackle the health care bill and have it finished sometime in June. “But, you know, I don’t know,” Mr. Reid added. “We’ll have to see how long things take.”

Other senators attending the meetings noted that President Obama was very interested in putting together a true bipartisan health care plan, and that he understood that Republicans were vehement in their opposition to a government-sponsored program.

A recent report submitted by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-allied research and advocacy organization expressed its down as to whether Congress would be able to provide financing for health reform legislation that includes universal coverage unless it limits the exclusion of employers’ health insurance payments from employee income and payroll taxes.

The Obama administration addresses questions about cost control measures by suggested that the federal panel responsible for determining how much compensation should be given to hospitals, doctors, nursing homes, and other health care providers by Medicare.

The consensus among the visiting senators was that President Obama was emphatic about the need for revitalizing the health care system in order to cut the costs by significant margins. He expressed a sense of urgency about providing results for the American people.

Senator Ron Wyden said that the president made clear it that history will judge us by whether this bill controls health costs.