Obama Plans Congressional Address on Health Insurance and Health Care

Obama Plans Congressional Address on Health Insurance and Health Care in Politics and Legislation

With lawmakers returning to work next week, President Obama is gearing up to regain control of the contentious health insurance debate. He will deliver a prime-time address to a joint session of Congress next Wednesday. What should we (and Congress) expect from the president in his address? Hopefully some clarity on what’s to come.

Because the president has handed over the crafting of the legislation to Congress, the debate is a wide open field. You could actually think of it as a “too many cooks in the kitchen” scenario. Match that with aggressive PR campaigns and dying public support, the light at the end of the tunnel for health reform keeps getting smaller.

So truly this presidential address to Congress is a tactic to try to give the reigns back to the president. Aides have indicated that Obama will take a more “prescriptive” approach now.

“We’re obviously entering a new season here and this issue has been debated and discussed and chewed over at great length,” said David Axelrod, a senior advisor to the president. “There are a lot of ideas on the table and now it’s time to pull those strands together and finish the work,” reported The New York Times.

Might the president take charge of the health reform policy making for the first time?

It’s expected that the president will draw from the common pieces of the measures approved in three House committees as well as the Senate committee formerly headed by the late Senator Kennedy.

The address is a combination of frustration and urgency from the president. And considering that in recent days, two major Republican negotiating partners — Senators

Mike Enzi and Charles Grassley — have attacked the Democrats’ efforts publicly, it’s not a surprise President Obama wants to take control. We’ll see how he does.  

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