The Debate over Medical Costs Is Catching Up with Obama

If reform does not work out for Obama, then his presidency has failed.

President Obama considers an overhaul of the health insurance system the magnum opus of his presidency.

Particularly ambitious, he had wanted this complex matter to be resolved before the Congress’ summer recess. The danger in emphatically displaying such an issue as the piece de resistance is, of course, that if he fails to win over Congress, he will be regarded as a failed president from the very start.

Moderate Republicans

In order not to make the same mistake as President Bill Clinton at an earlier reform effort in 1994, Obama limited himself to point out a number of major outlines with which the new structure must comply. Congress needs to figure out the rest. In recent months, bills have been tripping over each other.

There is every indication that Obama has to give up his hope to win over a number of moderate Republicans. The president’s fellow Democratic party members may be in the majority in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate but unanimous they are not.

The president faces much opposition from multiple sources. Interestingly enough, most interest groups such as the pharmaceutical industry, which in 1994 was tenaciously opposed, are now very much in favor of the White House’s plans.

Emotions

Increasingly, the debate is based less on factually true arguments, rather it increasingly rides the waves of emotion.

For a large minority of Americans, this feeling says that this funny old bird Obama does not really belong in the White House. To defeat him in the field of health insurance would mean an ardently wished for and early Waterloo; a revenge for his electoral victory in 2008.

At the beginning of the new season there is every reason for Obama’s heart to miss a beat. His approval rating has dropped to 50 percent. The death of Senator Ted Kennedy who had made a new health system “the main cause of his political life” means that it is not likely that his colleagues will decide their vote out of reverence.

Majority Lost

Moreover, through Kennedy’s death, the Democrats have temporarily lost their 60-seat majority in the Senate. Consequently, obstruction by the Republican side becomes a lot easier. But there remains a chance that de moderate Republican Senator, Olympia Snowe of Maine, will put a stop to that by crossing over to the Democratic camp.

When deliberation resumes next week, it will become clear whether the so-called “public option” which Obama, among others, advocates, has a future. Under this option, the government would directly participate in a section of the insurance market. State Socialism, roar his opponents. That is why there is now more inclination to think about the creation of co-operatives.

In short, Obama’s proposals are not yet dead, but they have ended up in intensive care.