Facing mounting opposition to the overhaul, administration officials left
open the chance for a compromise with Republicans that would include health insurance
cooperatives instead of a government-run plan. Such a concession probably would
enrage Obama's liberal supporters but could deliver a much-needed victory on a
top domestic priority opposed by GOP lawmakers.
Officials from both political parties reached across the aisle in an effort
to find compromises on proposals they left behind when they returned to their
districts for an August recess. Obama had sought the government to run a health
insurance organization to help cover the nation's almost 50 million uninsured,
but he never made it a deal breaker in a broad set of ideas that has
Republicans unified in opposition.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that government
alternative to private health insurance is "not the essential
element" of the administration's health care overhaul. The White House
would be open to co-ops, she said, a sign that Democrats want a compromise so
they can declare a victory.
Under a proposal by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., consumer-owned nonprofit
cooperatives would sell insurance in competition with private industry, not
unlike the way electric and agriculture co-ops operate, especially in rural
states such as his own.
With $3 billion to $4 billion in initial support from the government, the
co-ops would operate under a national structure with state affiliates but
independent of the government. They would be required to maintain the type of
financial reserves that private companies are required to keep in case of
unexpectedly high claims.
"I think there will be a competitor to private insurers," Sebelius
said. "That's really the essential part, is you don't turn over the whole
new marketplace to private insurance companies and trust them to do the right
thing."
Obama's spokesman refused to say a public option was a make-or-break choice.
"What I am saying is the bottom line for this for the president is,
what we have to have is choice and competition in the insurance market,"
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Sunday.
A day before, Obama appeared to hedge his bets.
"All I'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it
or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform," Obama
said at a town hall meeting in
Lawmakers have discussed the co-op model for months although the Democratic
leadership and the White House have said they prefer a government-run option.
Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, called the argument for a
government-run public plan little more than a "wasted effort." He
added there are enough votes in the Senate for a cooperative plan.
"It's not government-run and government-controlled," he said.
"It's membership-run and membership-controlled. But it does provide a
nonprofit competitor for the for-profit insurance companies, and that's why it
has appeal on both sides."
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said Obama's team is making a political
calculation and embracing the co-op alternative as "a step away from the
government takeover of the health care system" that the GOP has pummeled.
"I don't know if it will do everything people want, but we ought to
look at it. I think it's a far cry from the original proposals," he said.
Republicans say a public option would have unfair advantages that would
drive private insurers out of business. Critics say co-ops would not be genuine
public options for health insurance.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, said it would be difficult to pass any
legislation through the Democratic-controlled Congress without the promised
public plan.
"We'll have the same number of people uninsured," she said.
"If the insurance companies wanted to insure these people now, they'd be
insured."
Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., said the Democrats' option would force individuals
from their private plans to a government-run plan, a claim that the nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office supports.
"There is a way to get folks insured without having the government
option," he said.
Obama, writing in Sunday's New York Times, said political maneuvers should
be excluded from the debate.
"In the coming weeks, the cynics and the naysayers will continue to
exploit fear and concerns for political gain," he wrote. "But for all
the scare tactics out there, what's truly scary — truly risky — is the prospect
of doing nothing."
Congress' proposals, however, seemed likely to strike end-of-life counseling
sessions. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has called the session "death
panels," a label that has drawn rebuke from her fellow Republicans as well
as Democrats.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, declined to criticize Palin's comments and said
Obama wants to create a government-run panel to advise what types of care would
be available to citizens.
"In all honesty, I don't want a bunch of nameless, faceless bureaucrats
setting health care for my aged citizens in
Sebelius said the end-of-life proposal was likely to be dropped from the
final bill.
"We wanted to make sure doctors were reimbursed for that very important
consultation if family members chose to make it, and instead it's been turned
into this scare tactic and probably will be off the table," she said.
Sebelius spoke on CNN's "State of the
______
In photo: On the hottest day
of the year in the nation's capital, tourists gaze toward the White House
as President Obama's helicopter prepares to land on the South Lawn following a
day of diplomacy in Mexico, where he met with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of
Canada and President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, in Washington, Monday, Aug. 10,
2009. The Jefferson Memorial is seen in the distance. (AP Photo/J. Scott
Applewhite)
Copyright 2009 Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
rewritten, or redistributed.
