Obama urges Congress to act

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By Christina Bellantoni

President Obama Wednesday night began to lay out details of a health care proposal he said incorporates ideas from Democrats and Republicans and planned to warn opponents against opposing his plan purely for political gain.

In an offering to Republicans concerned about the issue, Mr. Obama announced a new pilot program that would be created by administrative action to curb medical malpractice lawsuits that have been making it more difficult for doctors to practice.

The initiative would "create alternatives" to lawsuits and is similar to programs done in Maine and Indiana.

"I am proposing that we move forward on a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first and let doctors focus on practicing medicine," Mr. Obama was to say, according to the White House. "I know that the Bush administration considered authorizing demonstration projects in individual states to test these issues. Its a good idea, and I am directing my Secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward on this initiative today."

Senior administration officials, speaking on a condition of anonymity Wednesday afternoon to freely discuss the upcoming speech, said the medical malpractice idea indicated "movement" on Mr. Obama's part, but was not going to be used as a bargaining chip for the overall health care plan.

"Let's see how this works and if it works well, then we're going to have a much greater opportunity to get this passed through the Congress," the official said, adding if it were part of the bill, it "could become an impediment to finally getting done what we need to get done."

Mr. Obama also planned to single out Sen. John McCain, his Republican opponent in the 2008 presidential race, for an idea the Arizona senator pushed on the campaign trail last year.

Embracing the creation of a high-risk pool to help people with pre-existing conditions be able to afford catastrophic expenses, Mr. Obama would credit it as Mr. McCain's "good idea."

That pool would work until the insurance exchange goes online in 2013.

The officials said Mr. Obama still opposes Mr. McCain's other campaign proposal -- taxing employer- based health benefits, even though Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus has said he'd consider the idea.