Friday, September 11, 2009

WashPo on Obama's health care plan specifics: What specifics?

Barack Obama's presidential campaign message was short on specifics--and I'm taking into account the lower standards when politicking is involved.

Running the nation with the world's largest economy requires more details, "Hope" and "Change" doesn't go far. It appears Obama hasn't figured that out yet.

The president wants to refashion one-sixth of that economy. And the Washington Post isn't impressed:

One day after President Obama pitched his plan for comprehensive health-care reform to a joint session of Congress, administration officials struggled Thursday to detail how he would achieve his goal of extending coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans without increasing the deficit.

In two public appearances and private meetings with a dozen lawmakers, Obama promised a "full-court press," saying, "We have talked this issue to death." He also argued that new Census Bureau figures showing a slight uptick in the number of uninsured Americans only underscores the urgency of enacting major legislation this year.

The 10-year, $900 billion proposal Obama envisions borrows heavily from concepts circulating on Capitol Hill, but there was little evidence that the broad ideas are sufficient to break a congressional logjam.

After declining for months to identify himself with the details of emerging legislation, the president for the first time Wednesday embraced a set of ideas as "my plan." But the White House released scant specifics on legislation advertised as including new taxes, changes in malpractice law, a new national high-risk insurance pool, a commission on eliminating Medicare fraud, and tax credits for individual consumers and small businesses that cannot afford insurance.

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