Canceled.LTroll.8
Banned
I am not an ideologue. Actually, I've gotten many of your ideas.
Some of the ideas we have embraced in our package. Some of them are embraced with caveats.
So, let me give you an example.
I think one of the proposals that has been focused on by the Republicans as a way to reduce costs is allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines.
We actually include that as part of our approach.
But, the caveat is, we've got to do so with some minimum standards, because otherwise what happens is that you could have insurance companies circumvent a whole bunch of state regulations about basic benefits or what have you, making sure that a woman is able to get mammograms as part of preventive care, for example.
Part of what could happen is insurance companies could go into states and cherry-pick and just get those who are healthiest and leave behind those who are least healthy, which would raise everybody's premiums who weren't healthy, right?
So, it's not that many of these ideas aren't workable, but we have to refine them to make sure that they don't just end up worsening the situation for folks rather than making it better.
Now, what I said at the State of the Union is what I still believe.
If you can show me ways of reducing people's premiums; covering those who do not have insurance; making it more affordable for small businesses; having insurance reforms that ensure people have insurance even when they've got preexisting conditions, that their coverage is not dropped just because they're sick, that young people right out of college or as they're entering in the workforce can still get health insurance -- if those component parts are things that you care about and want to do, I'm game, and I've got a lot of these ideas.
The last thing I will say, though, let me say this about health care and the health care debate, because I think it also bears on a whole lot of other issues.
If you look at the package that we've presented, and there's some stray cats and dogs that got in there that we were in the process of eliminating. For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you're not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making, and I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge, and so we were in the process of scrubbing this and making sure that it's tight.
But, at its core, if you look at the basic proposal that we've put forward, it has an exchange so that businesses and the self-employed can buy into a pool and can get bargaining power the same way big companies do.
The component parts of this thing are pretty similar to what Howard Baker, Bob Dole, and Tom Daschle proposed at the beginning of this debate last year.
Now, you may not agree with Bob Dole and Howard Baker, and, certainly you don't agree with Tom Daschle on much, but that's not a radical bunch.
But, if you were to listen to the debate, and frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot, and so I'm thinking to myself, well, how is it that a plan that is pretty centrist.
I know you guys disagree, but if you look at the facts of this bill, most independent observers would say this is actually similar to what many Republicans proposed to Bill Clinton when he was doing his debate on health care.
So, all I'm saying is, we've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality.
I'm not suggesting that we're going to agree on everything, whether it's on health care or energy or what have you, but if the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don't have a lot of room to negotiate with me.
You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you've been telling your constituents is, this guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's going to destroy America, and I would just say that we have to think about tone.
It's not just on your side, by the way, it's on our side, as well.
This is part of what's happened in our politics, where we demonize the other side so much that when it comes to actually getting things done, it becomes tough to do.
We've got to be careful about what we say about each other sometimes. It boxes us in.
Some of the ideas we have embraced in our package. Some of them are embraced with caveats.
So, let me give you an example.
I think one of the proposals that has been focused on by the Republicans as a way to reduce costs is allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines.
We actually include that as part of our approach.
But, the caveat is, we've got to do so with some minimum standards, because otherwise what happens is that you could have insurance companies circumvent a whole bunch of state regulations about basic benefits or what have you, making sure that a woman is able to get mammograms as part of preventive care, for example.
Part of what could happen is insurance companies could go into states and cherry-pick and just get those who are healthiest and leave behind those who are least healthy, which would raise everybody's premiums who weren't healthy, right?
So, it's not that many of these ideas aren't workable, but we have to refine them to make sure that they don't just end up worsening the situation for folks rather than making it better.
Now, what I said at the State of the Union is what I still believe.
If you can show me ways of reducing people's premiums; covering those who do not have insurance; making it more affordable for small businesses; having insurance reforms that ensure people have insurance even when they've got preexisting conditions, that their coverage is not dropped just because they're sick, that young people right out of college or as they're entering in the workforce can still get health insurance -- if those component parts are things that you care about and want to do, I'm game, and I've got a lot of these ideas.
The last thing I will say, though, let me say this about health care and the health care debate, because I think it also bears on a whole lot of other issues.
If you look at the package that we've presented, and there's some stray cats and dogs that got in there that we were in the process of eliminating. For example, we said from the start that it was going to be important for us to be consistent in saying to people if you want to keep the health insurance you got, you can keep it, that you're not going to have anybody getting in between you and your doctor in your decision making, and I think that some of the provisions that got snuck in might have violated that pledge, and so we were in the process of scrubbing this and making sure that it's tight.
But, at its core, if you look at the basic proposal that we've put forward, it has an exchange so that businesses and the self-employed can buy into a pool and can get bargaining power the same way big companies do.
The component parts of this thing are pretty similar to what Howard Baker, Bob Dole, and Tom Daschle proposed at the beginning of this debate last year.
Now, you may not agree with Bob Dole and Howard Baker, and, certainly you don't agree with Tom Daschle on much, but that's not a radical bunch.
But, if you were to listen to the debate, and frankly, how some of you went after this bill, you'd think that this thing was some Bolshevik plot, and so I'm thinking to myself, well, how is it that a plan that is pretty centrist.
I know you guys disagree, but if you look at the facts of this bill, most independent observers would say this is actually similar to what many Republicans proposed to Bill Clinton when he was doing his debate on health care.
So, all I'm saying is, we've got to close the gap a little bit between the rhetoric and the reality.
I'm not suggesting that we're going to agree on everything, whether it's on health care or energy or what have you, but if the way these issues are being presented by the Republicans is that this is some wild-eyed plot to impose huge government in every aspect of our lives, what happens is you guys then don't have a lot of room to negotiate with me.
You've given yourselves very little room to work in a bipartisan fashion because what you've been telling your constituents is, this guy is doing all kinds of crazy stuff that's going to destroy America, and I would just say that we have to think about tone.
It's not just on your side, by the way, it's on our side, as well.
This is part of what's happened in our politics, where we demonize the other side so much that when it comes to actually getting things done, it becomes tough to do.
We've got to be careful about what we say about each other sometimes. It boxes us in.
