President Barack Obama will hold a healthcare summit Thursday at the White House in an effort to launch widespread support for healthcare reform.
Obama has invited approximately 150 attendees, including members of Congress; representatives from healthcare stakeholder groups, including labor, business, providers, insurers and grassroots organizations; and several key members of the administration, a White House statement said.
Attendees will discuss how to bring down healthcare costs and increase coverage.
"The White House Forum on Health Reform represents the next step in the administration's strategy to enact healthcare reform," a White House statement said. "The forum will bring together the people who have a stake in our healthcare system and the people who have the ability to change it; those who worked to pass healthcare reform a decade ago and those who worked to defeat it."
"While the people around the table – Republicans, Democrats, insurance companies, labor, doctors and patient advocates – may not agree on everything, having them around the table is a critical, but first step in this process. Learning the lessons of past efforts, the president is starting by bringing diverse and bi-partisan stakeholders together for a substantive and transparent discussion consistent with the principles he has laid out," the White House statement said.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday the president is looking for "the best ideas" on healthcare reform.
Gibbs said Congressional committees will take the lead on drafting healthcare reform legislation. "Obviously this White House will work with Democrats and Republicans on that," he said. "This is not, obviously, going to be done overnight. But I think this is a good first step in starting a process that the president believes is long overdue."
American Medical Association President Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, said she was honored to be invited to attend the summit. She said improving the healthcare system for patients and physicians is a top priority for the AMA.
"His inclusion of physicians in the summit emphasizes the critical role those who provide healthcare play in the reform effort, " she said.
"Physicians see first-hand how patients are hurt by not having health insurance," Nielsen added. "All Americans should have health insurance and high-quality affordable healthcare, regardless of employment or health status. Covering all Americans will ensure that people can get the preventive care they need, which will keep them healthy longer and keep the nation’s long-term healthcare costs down. "
The All Unions Committee For Single Payer Health Care issued a plea Tuesday in the The Daily Crock, a political blog, urging its members to call the White House to invite a single-payer representative to the summit. ''Single-payer universal healthcare advocates are locked out, but the doors are swung open wide to the healthcare profiteers," the group said.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), who is not in favor of a single-payer system, said his committee will explore healthcare reform proposals over the coming months.
"We will also need to look at other ways to make the healthcare system more efficient," he said. "This includes examining the enormous role that taxes play in promoting healthcare."
Photo obtained under Creative Commons license. -Ed