After 7 1/2 hours of debate and disagreement, President Obama concluded that an agreement between Democrats and Republicans may not be possible.
“We cannot have another year long debate about this,” Obama said at the end of the full day marathon policy session.
Neither party gave any ground, sticking to arguing useless points and making egotistical comments. The conversation veered between irrelevant details and bad tempers. Disagreements were not expressed diplomatically, cheap shots and negative remarks continued throughout the day, and irritation was clearly visible on the faces of both parties.
Polls are showing that Americans want solutions to the biggest problems of high medical costs, decreasing access to coverage and inconsistent quality. However, many Americans are split over the Democrats’ sweeping legislation, with its 1 trillion dollar price tag pver 10 years and many complex provisions, including some changes that wouldn’t even take effect for eight years.
Obama and his Democratic party clashed with congressional Republicans over the right prescription for the nation’s broken health care system. Republicans oppose this dramatically sweeping health care plan and favor small changes over a period of years.
The Democratic bills would require most Americans to get health insurance, while providing subsidies for others in the form of a tax credit. They would set up a competitive insurance market for small businesses and people buying coverage on their own. Democrats also would make numerous other changes, which include addressing a coverage gap in the Medicare prescription benefit and setting up a new long term care insurance program. Their plan would be paid for through a mix of Medicare cuts and tax increases.
“Not only are lawmakers polarized, the parties’ constituencies are far apart,” said Robert Blendon, a Harvard University professor who follows public opinion trends on health care. “The president is going to use it as a launching pad for what will be the last effort to get a big bill passed. He will say that he tried to get a bipartisan compromise and it wasn’t possible.”
SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul