White House Hosts Health Care Forum

March 09, 2009

On March 5, AFSCME participated in President Obama's Forum on Health Care Reform. The summit was part of the new administration's effort to gain momentum for the President's health care reform initiatives and was attended by approximately 120 participants including bipartisan representatives from Congress, health insurance plans, hospitals, providers, consumers, business and labor. President Obama addressed the forum, saying “[t]he status quo is the one option that's not on the table, and those who seek to block any reform at all – any reform at any costs – will not prevail this time around.”

On the same day, the Department of Health & Human Services launched a new website dedicated to this effort at HealthReform.gov and the White House blog posted a rundown of the forum as it took place. The immediate goal was to create a dialogue among the stakeholders and congressional representatives about the urgency for reform. In addition, broad policy themes were briefly discussed, but the emphasis at this early date in the process was to set a collaborative tone and gain consensus around the need for reform. The administration clearly met its objectives for the meeting. Participants all agreed that reform is urgently needed and should be tackled this year. There was strong support for covering everyone, transforming the health care delivery system to promote prevention and enhance quality, and implementing information technology as funded in the recently enacted economic recovery bill. There was recognition by the participants, and by the President, that this transformation will require substantial investment, but that the investment will reap economic dividends over the medium to long term. While a few Republican congressional representatives voiced dissent at the idea that reform can and should be enacted this year, on this day their position was both muted and overwhelmed by the strong support for health care reform among the participants.