Obama Confident Congress Will Pass Health-Care Plan
By Kate Andersen Brower and Nicholas Johnston
Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said today that he is confident Congress will pass a health-care overhaul, even if the debate gets “messy” along the way.
“I guarantee you, Joe, we are going to get health-care reform done,” Obama told a listener during a radio call-in program.
“I know there are a lot of people out there who have been hand-wringing,” Obama said during an appearance with Philadelphia radio talk-show host Michael Smerconish. “Passing a big bill like this is always messy.”
Obama said he continues to think that it’s a good idea to offer consumers the option of signing up with a government-run insurance plan. “Let’s make a public option one choice of many choices,” he said.
Obama granted Smerconish’s long-standing interview request to “correct misinformation” about his health-care plans, “particularly among conservative talk-radio listeners,” said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman.
Smerconish’s program was broadcast from the White House’s Diplomatic Reception Room. It was the first time Smerconish spoke with the president face-to-face, after three previous interviews by telephone.
Smerconish made news when he endorsed Obama’s presidential candidacy.
“For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I’m voting for a Democrat for president,” Smerconish wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer last October.
Health-Care Forum
Obama also is to appear today at a health-care forum at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters, in an effort to rally support after some House Democrats threatened to withhold their backing unless a health-care package includes a government-run insurance plan.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the event “is a purely political event” to talk with supporters.
Obama has sought to use the August congressional recess to gain support for plans to expand coverage to uninsured Americans and limit insurers’ ability to deny or cancel coverage. Health- care bills making their way through Congress have faced opposition from critics at town-hall meetings across the country in recent weeks.
