At the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball on Jan. 20, a newscaster asked President Obama what he planned to do his first day on the job. To very little surprise, he said he planned to work on the economic recovery plan.
That's good news for healthcare. Obama made it clear as early as the Democratic primary race that he ties the economic well-being of the nation with the reformation of our healthcare system.
Recent public polls back the president's plan to expand healthcare coverage, improve the quality of care and control costs. Congress, with the help of the Obama transition team, has already mapped out a plan that could bring big changes fairly fast. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) expects Congress to have the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 passed before Feb. 16. The Senate has yet to take up the bill.
House Democrats, at the time of this printing, proposed $20 billion to advance healthcare IT, which is expected to be pivotal in lowering costs and improving the quality of care. Another $4.1 billion is slated for programs that will increase preventative care and evaluate the most effective treatments. To aid states, $87 billion will be set aside to temporarily increase federal Medicaid matching rates and $39 billion will go to help the newly unemployed maintain healthcare coverage through COBRA.
Some say that America is not ready for healthcare change - that our big problem is we like our healthcare system the way it is. But that argument seems to hold less and less weight as time goes on.
In a speech at the "We Are One" pre-inaugural celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, then President-elect Obama said "What gives me that hope is what I see when I look out across this mall. For in these monuments are chiseled those unlikely stories that affirm our unyielding faith - a faith that anything is possible in America."