President Barack Obama on Tuesday outlined four Republican ideas that he is open to including in the final health care
reform bill, including efforts to combat waste and fraud in Medicare and Medicaid and rein in medical malpractice lawsuits.
Obama included the ideas in a letter to congressional leaders and said they were the result of last week’s health
care summit at the White House, where Obama offered to look at Republican ideas to give the bill a more bipartisan cast.
The four ideas amounted to relatively modest changes in a nearly $1 trillion bill but were a bid by Obama to show that
he was serious about incorporating Republican ideas into the bill. “I said throughout this process that I’d continue
to draw on the best ideas from both parties, and I’m open to these proposals in that spirit,” Obama said.
But Republicans were swift in rejecting Obama’s ideas as little more than cosmetic changes that do nothing to significantly
change the scope and range of a fundamentally flawed health reform bill.
Even Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), whose ideas for undercover Medicare inspectors was embraced by Obama said, "That is just
one thing."
Republican Sen. John McCain said Obama didn't go far enough when the president agreed with McCain that a Senate provision
to exempt 800,000 Floridians from Medicare Advantage cuts faced by other beneficiaries should not be included in the final
bill.
"He ought to get rid of all of them," McCain said of the special legislative deals:
But Obama appears to be betting that by including Republican proposals that are rejected out of hand, he can help build
a case for a party-line reconciliation strategy.
Obama stopped short of saying that he will include the proposals, but the letter, combined with his positive comments during
last week's health reform summit, send a strong signal that they will make it in.
In addition to Coburn’s idea, Obama embraced the idea of $50 million in grants to states that are testing medical
malpractice reforms; increasing physicians' Medicare reimbursements and offering health savings accounts in the insurance
exchange. The health savings accounts, which allow taxpayers to control how their own dollars are used for medical coverage,
are a staple of Republican health reform ideas dating back to President George W. Bush.