Posts about Nancy-Ann DeParle Watch as of October 14, 2009

Until now, the Senate’s health reform debate has been largely partisan, with Republicans blasting the various reform bills as a step toward socialized medicine, and Democrats, despite some criticism, firing back that the GOP is merely protecting the insurance industry at the expense of patients. Ideologically driven arguments, both. And the committee votes have reflected those predictable divisions.

Washington – After months of collaboration on President Obama’s attempt to overhaul the nation’s healthcare system, the insurance industry plans to strike out against the effort today with a report warning that the typical family premium could rise over the next decade by $4,000 more than projected under current law. The critique, coming one day before a key Senate committee vote on the legislation, sparked a sharp response from the Obama administration.

I agree with most everyone that it’s good to have this out there : Despite months of seeming ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the Obama White House has launched an intensifying behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea in the weeks just ahead. President Barack Obama has long advocated a so-called public option, while at the same time repeatedly expressing openness to other ways to offer consumers a potentially more affordable alternative to health plans sold by private insurers.

The LA Times is reporting that President Obama and the White House have switched tactics in attempting to mold health care reform legislation to meet their goals, with the president taking a more forceful position in personally engaging Senate Democrats to boost support for any form of government-run insurance option. While his public appearances and comments have still remained generic and vague towards the specifics of reform legislation (and the crucial public option) in order to appease moderates and Republicans, Obama has been lobbying his former colleagues frenetically as the countdown to final reform legislation continues.

Hoping to put a week filled with media bashing over unemployment, the Olympics and stalled health care reform, President Obama is kicking off yet another intensive lobbying effort to shore up support for his reform proposals and win over a public more consumed with the mostly symbolic specter of a 10 percent jobless rate. The president will hold a Rose Garden event Monday morning with doctors who support the reform plan put forward by the White House and Democrats in Congress, delivering remarks on the ongoing fight even as  the possibility of defeat for the Baucus reform bill in the Senate Finance Committee remains real.

White House discreetly labors to weave coalition on health care By Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook / Tribune Newspapers / October 4, 2009 WASHINGTON – — Despite months of seeming ambivalence about creating a government health insurance plan, the ObamaWhite House has launched an intensifying behind-the-scenes campaign to get divided Senate Democrats to take up some version of the idea in the weeks just ahead.