Three things came to mind after watching President Obama’s speech on health reform before the joint session of Congress.
- Obama is the most persuasive presidential speakers I’ve seen since Ronald Reagan
- He has an excellent sense of political timing
- It’s not really about the money
Point 1: Just my opinion.
Point 2: By waiting until after the August recess, Obama effectively gets the last word in the mud-slinging phase and affirms the dignity of his office. Calendar accident? I think not.
Point 3: On an annualized basis, the 10-year cost of the plan amounts to roughly $300 per capita. The 2009 federal budget is just under $3 trillion — about $10,000 per capita. You can reallocate 3% in any budget if you have to.
The president said “most” of the cost could be obtained by reducing fraud and abuse — a defensible claim considering the S.T.O.P. bill introduced by Senate Republicans in May trumpeted that Medicare and Medicaid fraud is costing $60 billion per year. That’s two-thirds of the health reform bill’s $90 billion annualized cost.
The rest must be found by cutting other parts of the federal budget. While not easy to make such cuts, they’re plausible. Even with less savings — or no savings — from fraud prevention, the plan’s cost is goal-worthy at less than 3% of the federal budget.
It just takes a resetting of priorities — something we all need to do from time to time.
