For months, I’ve been reporting on the fact that many of the
industry groups that opposed past attempts by Washington to
overhaul the health care system are onboard with the Democrats
this time around. But suddenly, that’s starting to change.
On Thursday, the New York Times reported
that the American Medical Association would oppose the creation
of a new government-run plan modeled after Medicare, which is
supported by President Obama. This is a significant development,
even though the group subsequently released a vague
statement saying it may support some variations of a
government plan.
But this wasn’t the only such example.
On Thursday, representatives from several business groups
appeared before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
(HELP) Committee and delivered strong statements against the idea
of a mandate requiring employers to provide health coverage or
pay a fine. The groups said the cost of the mandate would have to
be recouped somehow, meaning either job losses or lower wages for
employees.
Randel Johnson of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce called the idea a
“sweeping new burden on businesses” and delivered a blistering
criticism of the way Democrats were trying to ram through
legislation in a matter of months. He said for all the flak
Hillary Clinton received for conducting meetings behind closed
doors during the 1993 health care drive, that was “a model of
transparency” compared to the current process.
Taken together, this shift could complicate matters for President
Obama and Democrats in Congress. For liberals, abandoning a
government-run plan and employer mandate would take the teeth out
of health care reform, and for some, make it simply not worth
doing. The optics of Democratic lawmakers abandoning such ideas
to win over industry groups would not go over well among the
party’s activist base. At the same time, if Democrats insist on
ramming through very liberal legislation without any Republican
votes or support of doctors, insurers, and businesses, they won’t
have any cover if (or I should say when) their program fails.
