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Local Resistance Mounts for House Plan for Health Care Reform
Obama adviser dismisses fears about plan
by Walter C. Jones, Morris News Service
July 23, 2009
Critics of health reform are stalling
passage because they want to protect their special interests, according to the chairwoman of the
President's Council of Economic Advisers.
Christy Romer said in a phone interview with Morris News Service Wednesday that any serious
reform would inevitably step on some toes. She takes comfort in the fact that public criticism
didn't come sooner, as it did when President Clinton attempted his own sweeping reform 16 years
ago.
"The important thing is that fact that everybody stayed at the table as long as they did,"
Romer said. One of the latest critics is the Medical Association of Georgia and its 43,000
physicians that announced Wednesday opposition to the House version of the reform plan.
"A government-run health plan will result in a single-payer system," notes the association's
press release.
Romer denied that having a government-run "public option" would eventually bankrupt the
private commercial plans on the market today. She said President Obama is insistent that no
government money subsidize the public plan and that it survive on the fees it charges, just like
other non-profit plans such as Blue Cross-Blue Shield.
"It's not a realistic concern because everyone is aware of that and is committed to making
sure that the public option is on the same footing as the private plans," she said.
Overall, the reform is needed because the government's hand will wring out inefficiency in
the current system, she said. For example, the uninsured seek treatment in emergency rooms, the
site of the most expensive care. Providing coverage to them will allow them to seek preventive
treatment in clinics of doctors' offices.
The dramatic proposal hasn't even won support from everyone in the president's party. One
Democrat on the fence is Rep. John Barrow of Georgia who is part of the subcommittee in the Health
and Energy Committee responsible for initial consideration of the House bill. Calls to his office
have been evenly split, said spokeswoman Jane Brodsky.
"He has not made a decision either way," she said.
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