Adopting a wait-and-see approach will be the stance of the White House as Congressional Negotiators look for a deal on Health care legislation. The legislation aims to place a cap on Insurance premiums or Tax benefits and advisors said that The White house would not commit to it until a solution is found. When asked about ending the antitrust exemption for insurance industry, White House aide David Axelrod refused to comment on whether President Obama would sign the bill, instead he stated “We’ll see what Congress does.” Currently, due to a 1945 law, States regulate Insurers and the Federal government is not allowed to interfere.
Commissioned by the Insurance Industry, a recent study reports that Premiums for the insured would go up significantly due to the Democrats health care effort. President Obama criticized this study in his weekly Radio and Online address as “designed to mislead the American people.” On the controversial Ad run by the industry that suggests that basic Medicare is at risk, he accused the Insurance industry of “filling the airwaves with deceptive and dishonest ads”.
While President Obama called upon policy makers to resist special interests, the Republicans are expected almost unanimously to reject a bill designed by The White House and lawmakers, which attempts to unify five House and Senate Committee versions of health care legislation. A public option, also known as a government run plan is being insisted upon by the House democrats. This is also the option preferred by President Obama; however he is not expected to demand its inclusion in the final bill. “There will be compromise. There will be legislation, and it will achieve our goals: helping people who have insurance get more security, more accountability for the insurance industry, helping people who don’t have insurance get insurance they can afford, and lowering the overall cost of the system,” is the aim of the bill said aide David Axelrod.
