The Other Health Care Story
Many key stakeholders in the medical establishment have come together behind reform.
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009
by Ronald Brownstein
National Journal
The dominant health care story that emerged from August is one of frenzied confrontation -- seniors standing on folding chairs to scream at senators; sign-wielding protesters shouting across parking lots.
Those conflicts were real and raw. But they are only part of the story. With much less notice, many key stakeholders in the medical establishment, including several that mobilized against previous efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system, have come together behind reform. "That's very different from what we've ever experienced before and why there is every reason to be optimistic that health care reform will happen," says Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a liberal health advocacy group.
The dogmatic liberal insistence on maintaining a public plan constrains Obama from considering the one concession that might attract GOP support.
You wouldn't know it from watching cable television, but many traditional antagonists in the health debate now support the basic thrust of the Democratic reform bills. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has long allied with the GOP; the drug industry has directed two-thirds of its political donations since 1990 toward Republicans, and it fiercely opposed President Clinton's universal coverage plan. Yet today, PhRMA is spearheading an odd-couple coalition called Americans for Stable Quality Care that is advertising heavily to support the reform plans advancing in Congress.
The American Medical Association fought Medicare in 1965 and attacked Clinton's health care plan just four days after he unveiled it. But the AMA has joined the Quality Care coalition -- along with the Federation of American Hospitals (another Clinton-care opponent), Families USA, and the Service Employees International Union.
(More here.)
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009
by Ronald Brownstein
National Journal
The dominant health care story that emerged from August is one of frenzied confrontation -- seniors standing on folding chairs to scream at senators; sign-wielding protesters shouting across parking lots.
Those conflicts were real and raw. But they are only part of the story. With much less notice, many key stakeholders in the medical establishment, including several that mobilized against previous efforts to overhaul the nation's health care system, have come together behind reform. "That's very different from what we've ever experienced before and why there is every reason to be optimistic that health care reform will happen," says Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, a liberal health advocacy group.
The dogmatic liberal insistence on maintaining a public plan constrains Obama from considering the one concession that might attract GOP support.
You wouldn't know it from watching cable television, but many traditional antagonists in the health debate now support the basic thrust of the Democratic reform bills. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America has long allied with the GOP; the drug industry has directed two-thirds of its political donations since 1990 toward Republicans, and it fiercely opposed President Clinton's universal coverage plan. Yet today, PhRMA is spearheading an odd-couple coalition called Americans for Stable Quality Care that is advertising heavily to support the reform plans advancing in Congress.
The American Medical Association fought Medicare in 1965 and attacked Clinton's health care plan just four days after he unveiled it. But the AMA has joined the Quality Care coalition -- along with the Federation of American Hospitals (another Clinton-care opponent), Families USA, and the Service Employees International Union.
(More here.)
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