President Obama, Hospitals Agree to Deal on Health Care

Trying desperately to fix a problem that has been festering like an open wound for many years, President Barack Obama gained concessions from hospitals yesterday, when the nation’s health care providers agreed to forego as much as $155 billion in future Medicare and Medicaid payments. The concession by hospitals is intended to help fund the president’s new health care plan, which has stalled lately in Congress. Vice President Joe Biden announced the deal yesterday at the White House and was joined by other officials from the Obama administration as well as hospital administrators.

Said Biden, "Reform is coming. It is on track; it is coming. We have tried for decades to fix a broken system, and we have never, in my entire tenure in public life, been this close. We must – and we will – enact reform by the end of August." Heady words indeed, though Congress remains a hurdle for the plan. Still, Obama hopes to sign a bill into law in October despite congressional questions and hesitation over various elements that are under discussion regarding the plan. Ironically, Democratic senators are setting up as much of a roadblock to Obama as Republicans, and are especially concerned about a proposed new tax on health insurance benefits provided by employers. It is unlikely, however, that the plan would pass the Senate without such concessions.

Said Senator Max Baucus, D-Montana, "We’re not there yet. I’m trying the best I can to get there soon." Baucus has been tirelessly seeking compromise with Republicans on the would-be bill. Explaining Democratic senators’ hesitation over the bill, Senator Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, noted, "It’s clearly a very difficult issue. You go to the public to ask them what they think and they don’t like it."