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President Obama held his Healthcare summit last week in which he invited the Republicans in order to hear their ideas on healthcare reform. The 6 hour summit was intended to bring together both sides and gather ideas in order to form a compromise bill that would pass both chambers of Congress.

Democratic leaders stated the purpose of the summit was ‘to put a face on gridlock”, namely that the Republicans would be shown as obstructing the passage of the Healthcare reform bill. For weeks the Democrats and the press have been describing the republicans as the party of ‘NO’. The Republicans at the summit gave their ideas on healthcare reform that were less sweeping and more piecemeal than those in the Democrat bills. Though the over all inclination of the republicans has been to scrap the current bills and start the whole process over.

President Obama’s spokespersons indicated that Obama had avoided a trap that the Republicans were setting for him. (Though it’s hard to fathom why he should fear a trap as Obama was the one who called for the summit.) To any objective observer the whole summit idea was to try to place the Republicans in a defensive position, and to blame them for not passing any Healthcare reform bill.

On Wednesday, President Obama Called for final, ‘last ditch effort’ to pass a healthcare reform bill. In his latest proposal Obama has included some republican ideas:

Eliminating fraud, waste, and inefficiencies from the healthcare system

Reduce medical malpractice lawsuits

Encourage individual Health Savings Accounts (HSA)

Obama also indicated that he would support the reconciliation process in order to prevent a Republican filibuster of any bill that comes out of the compromise committee sessions. The reconciliation process has only been used in the past to pass bills to reduce the Federal spending. The reconciliation process has never been used to pass a major social policy bill, or a bill that is overwhelmingly opposed by the American public. Trying to use the reconciliation process to pass a major social issues bill is a risky political maneuver.

The passage of the bill is far from certain. The Democrats in the Senate do not have the 60 votes they need to pass legislation, which is why the reconciliation process is being utilized. In the House, passage may be even harder. Many Democrats have seen the political winds in America shifting, and fearing for their jobs, some are rethinking their position on healthcare.

The Republicans have vowed to use every procedural process they can to delay or stall the healthcare reform bill. There is also disagreement between the House and Senate Democrats on the language in the final bill.

The importance of this bill passing or not passing cannot be overstated. Politicians on both sides of the aisle realize the importance of this bill as indicated by the following statements:

“Whatever it takes to get health care done,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said of the president’s schedule.

Senator Harry Reid (D-Nev.) pledged to use “every option available.”

“We’re going to scrub the bill thoroughly,” said Mitch McConnell (R-Ky)

John A, Boehner(R-Ohio) said Obama “voiced support for a partisan scheme to jam the bill through Congress.”

Political analysis:

The whole Healthcare reform issue has become purely a political issue. Political analysts from all perspectives see the Democrats committing political suicide in order to pass a healthcare reform bill this session. The political climate in America is shifting more toward the conservatives, and it appears that many current Democrat representatives will not be re-elected this November in any case. The Democratic leadership is asking members to vote for the Healthcare reform bill as a lasting legacy for the Democrat party. The leaders know that once this bill is passed, even though the republicans may regain control of the House and Senate in November, the die will be cast and it will be almost impossible to roll-back the reforms. The Democrats will have ensured the changes in American society that they have been working toward for over 70 years. Once the government has control of healthcare in the country, then they can control almost all aspects of American life. When the government is paying for healthcare then the government can tell you what to eat, how much to exercise, and make decisions on whom receives healthcare or not based on political ideology. The passage of this bill will change life in America as we know it. That is why it appears that Democrats are willing to committee political suicide for the passage of the bill.