Legal Commentary

Obama's Labor Day Speech to AFL-CIO

By Jeralyn

President Barack Obama today spoke about health care to the AFL-CIO in Ohio:

In Monday's speech, at the AFL-CIO's annual Labor Day picnic at Ohio's Coney Island amusement park, the president drew wild applause when he spoke of his support for a government-run insurance plan, one of the most contentious health reform issues.

"I see reform where Americans and small businesses that are shut out of health insurance today will be able to purchase coverage at a price they can afford," he said. "Where they'll be able to shop and compare in a new health insurance exchange. And I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs."

But, what does that mean? [More...]

White House officials have previously indicated, however, that while Obama will continue to push the public option, he will not make it a condition for signing a bill.

Do people just hear what they want to hear?

Richard Trumka, the incoming president of the AFL-CIO, said that Obama's support for a public option helped make his speech "the best Labor Day speech I've ever heard from a president."

"You have to take the president at face value," he said. "He said the public option is necessary, he's going to fight for it, and we're going to fight with him."

We know Obama is committed to passing health care reform legislation. But it still sounds like he's going to work some kind of compromise on the public option. Will it be in the basket of options from the get-go -- or only come into play if the insurance companies don't pony up?

Here's Reuter's latest list of possible outcomes. This one doesn't sound too good:

Obama may also have to compromise on how to pay for the package, which could cost $1 trillion over 10 years. He has called for limiting tax deductions for the very wealthy. The House bill includes a 5.4 percent tax on millionaires, while the Senate Finance Committee is considering taxing high-end health insurance policies.

Democrats may also have to reduce the bill's cost by scaling back plans to cover all Americans and settle on expanding access to health coverage without requiring individuals and businesses to purchase insurance.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on September 07, 2009 (boomark / email).