Obama Vows to Push Through Health Care Legislation

(New York Post) - President Obama planned to tell Republicans on Wednesday that he was ready to ram through health care legislation without any of their votes if they refused to reach a bipartisan agreement.

At the same time, Obama would open the door to a handful of Republican ideas, although sources said it was unlikely to win over any GOP support for the bill.

Obama was set to give a White House speech about health care Wednesday to follow up on last week's televised bipartisan summit, where lawmakers floated specific ideas.

One Republican idea the President was said to be open to would eliminate protection for Florida's participation in an expanded Medicare program, a provision promoted by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) that Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) slammed at the health summit.

Another idea would send agents undercover to search for waste, fraud and abuse by seeking treatment from providers, an idea pitched by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK).

"I said throughout this process that I'd continue to draw on the best ideas from both parties, and I'm open to these proposals in that spirit," Obama wrote to congressional leaders.

The President was also expected to say that if Republicans refused to allow an up-or-down vote in the Senate on changes to a current bill, Democrats would use the reconciliation rules to pass the legislation with 51 votes, according to ABC News.

"It's really an attempt to railroad the Senate," said Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH).

Under his proposal, Obama also wanted to double to $50 million the amount for experiments on curtailing medical malpractice trials, but stopped short of all-out reform of the costly system.

He suggested boosting reimbursements to doctors through Medicare, and said he was open to tax-sheltered health savings accounts, ideas also pitched by Republicans.

But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky immediately criticized the effort, saying that a "few items inadequately address a 2,700-page bill."

Coburn said bluntly, "We need to start over."

Source: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/ramb_health_pledge_x2HzT34uezymNvy5rEToYI