Health care debate shifts back to Main StreetWASHINGTON – The health care debate is heading back to Main Street, to cities and towns where people are worried about medical costs but increasingly concerned that overhauling the system may do more harm than good.
Some say that's exactly where the discussion belongs.
House members have returned to their districts for their August break, and senators are going home soon. Health care will be Topic A during town-hall meetings, visits to hospitals and small businesses and conversations with constituents.
The White House will go to great lengths to shape the discussion. The political parties and interest groups of every stripe will spend millions on advertising and grass-roots efforts.
Democrats, on the defensive, need to show how their plans would help working people who have health insurance but are paying more for it every year, and who worry about what would happen if they lose their jobs.
Republicans have succeeded in raising doubts about President Barack Obama's ambitious goal of providing coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured people while simultaneously trying to restrain runaway costs that no president, Congress or corporate CEO has figured out how to tame.
But after a GOP senator said health care could "break" Obama, Republicans risk being seen as putting political gain ahead of solutions that could work if given a chance.
August may be a defining month when public opinion solidifies. September is at stake. Obama, buoyed by a House committee's passage of a health care bill, said it's time to "build upon the historic consensus that has been forged and do the hard work necessary to seize this unprecedented opportunity."
Lawmakers could come back re-energized and ready to tackle sweeping changes. Or the scope of the overhaul could get pared back.
For example, Democrats might back off their insistence on a government-sponsored insurance plan to compete with private coverage — an idea that Republicans and many moderate Democrats say they can't accept.
Or the overhaul could get shunted aside in Congress, as has happened before, most notably in the early 1990s when Democrat Bill Clinton was president.
For now, there's a sense of urgency on all sides. Even interest groups representing doctors, hospitals, insurers, drug companies and major companies say they want to get a bill this year.
"This issue is as important as Medicare and Social Security," said Rep. Baron Hill, D-Ind., a conservative who has been at odds with the House leadership over the legislation drafted by liberals. "I believe that we're going to come together in good faith to get health care for all in a fiscally responsible manner."
House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio says Obama and the Democrats have overreached on health care and "they're likely to have a very, very hot summer."
In a memo to his rank-and-file on Friday, Boehner urged Republicans to adopt "a culture of entrepreneurial insurgency," using new media such as Twitter to connect with voters. "A flurry of surveys over the last couple of days demonstrate that the American people now oppose the Democrats' government takeover of health care, and any time the president talks about it, they like it even less," Boehner wrote.
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