Local Representatives Applaud Obama Health-care Speech
OBAMA
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Jessica Leving
Boston University Washington News Service
9/10/09
WASHINGTON— Local health care administrators said they liked President Obama’s address on health care reform to a joint session of Congress Wednesday night but wanted to hear more details.
Toni McGuire, president and CEO of Worcester’s Great Brook Valley Health Center, said she would have liked to hear Obama say more about community health centers.
“But while he didn’t say the actual words, he has before,” she said in an interview. “And the message was there. Taking care of primary care before you get to the emergency room is what this is all about. Often we don’t see people until they are too sick to treat.”
Jean C. Sullivan, director of the Center for Health Law and Economics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said the speech was lacking in specifics.
“I would have liked to see more detail about the specific way the changes would work,” she said in an interview.
She said the comment Obama made that 1/10 of 1 percent of a reduction in health expenditures in the next four years could save $4 trillion “was a very dramatic piece of data. I’m not sure whether that was based on actual costs now or expected projection.”
U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, said he thought the speech made “a compelling argument” for health-care reform.
“I think he made a very convincing speech,” Mr. McGovern said in an interview. “Now we have to get to the process of legislating. We have to work out the details.”
In response to an outburst by U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., who called out, “You lie”, during the speech when the president said proposed reforms would not grant insurance to illegal immigrants, Mr. McGovern said, “I thought it was rude, and I thought Congressman Wilson dishonored the institution that he was representing.”
McGovern added that the comment was unfounded. “There are no loopholes. Illegal immigrants aren’t covered, period. It’s written specifically in the legislation,” Mr. McGovern said. “It’s crystal clear.”
U.S. Rep. John W. Olver, D-Mass., also applauded the President’s address, and said the Republican opposition’s role right now is “to deny our President a victory.”
“Who gains politically from this pales in comparison to what happens if we do not do it,” he said in a statement.
John G. O’Brien, president and CEO of University of Massachusetts Memorial Health Care, praised Obama’s efforts to reach out to the opposition.
“Despite misbehavior by members of Congress, [Obama] extended an olive branch to not only the Republicans but also to the Blue Dogs,” Mr. O’Brien said in an interview, referring to moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives. “He was very conciliatory. I was surprised when he spoke about medical malpractice reform, which typically has been a polarizing issue, and clearly that resonated.”
Mr. O’Brien said he thought Obama was “particularly critical” of the insurance industry.
“I was wincing a little bit because while some of the huge national plans can behave horrendously, there are states like Massachusetts where we are extremely fortunate as a population to have some terrific health insurers,” he said. “There are variations across the country.”
As a Massachusetts resident, Mr. O’Brien said he was especially moved by Mr. Obama’s reflections about the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
“His personal reflections about Kennedy were very moving, and really identified that this is not just a cost issue and a deficit issue, but a moral issue, and an issue of social justice,” Mr. O’Brien said.
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