The Answers from our President:

Watching President Obama answer questions about health care reform with 81 year old Grandma, a lifelong Republican, was revealing. She loved it. She believed everything he said, and couldn’t see how anyone could argue with what he wants for health care reform.

Then Chris Matthews and Dr. Nancy, even Ed Schultz, ostensibly more supportive than the typical life-long Republican, declared that he hadn’t made the grade with this one.

Did he answer the questions our media pundits hoped he’d answer?

* address the lies of nay-sayers – not really.

* tax health insurance from employers – no answer

*guarantee small business they won’t foot the bill to their detriment – not really

* itemize the components he wants – not really

* how will we save money – sort of – we’ll only pay for what works, the public option will keep insurance companies honest and encourage reducing administrative costs to compete.

* will he give up on covering everyone – he won’t, though inevitably a few people will reject coverage

* will the plan give the employee the right to choose his coverage – no mention

* is public option in jeopardy, without it insurance companies have no incentive to cut costs – sort of - see "how will we save money" above

* did he show graphics to explain cost cutting – no graphics, but some explanation on unnecessary duplication because of lack of sharing of test results, and that will change

* is he willing to pull back on the time-table and not rush – somewhat, but still an urgent need to act quickly, because too many people are suffering

Not much there in the way of feeding the media the meat they’re looking for.

But in fact, he framed the discussion differently, assuming we want and need to cover everyone, and addressed a lot of things Grandma wanted to hear, most notably:

Where will we come up with the money? Answer: We’re already paying 2/3 of the cost. And he wants to keep extra taxation to those who make about $1 million a year. (A million a year – can you imagine? How can anyone making that kind of money object to helping fund health care for those making $20,000 or $40,000?) He promised he wouldn't pay for it with a tax on the middle class. And he says we will change the way we fund it, paying for success instead of the volume of the care we get. Because we will have a public option, insurance companies will be forced to reduce their administrative costs to compete.

Who will have to sacrifice? Answer: Well, insurance companies are making record profits, and charging more and more for premiums, and there are additional government subsidies for much of the health care providers. At the same time, the average family take home income is shrinking. Hmmmm….. who should give a little?

If we already have the best health care in the world, why change it? Answer: If someone told you there was a plan that would guarantee doubling the cost of health care, and destroy our economy, would you go for it? That’s what would happen if we do nothing.

How about listening to ideas from the other side? Answer: If they’ve got a good idea, we’ll take it. We’ll use a neutral group of experts and consumers called MedPac (a Republican idea in the first place but never given any power) to help hammer out the details and make sure Medicare and Medicaid work efficiently.

Haven’t we already thrown enough money at the economy with TARP and the bailouts? Answer: Wall Street took extraordinary risks with other people’s money. It was fundamentally unsound. It was the right thing to step in – things would be worse if we hadn’t. We’ve seen some stabilization in the economy, we’ve stepped away from the brink, and now some banks are making a profit and paying back the money. But we haven’t seen the changes on Wall Street to ensure it won’t happen again, (example - outrageously high bonuses to executives) and we need fees for the kinds of risky transactions they were performing to help provide a backstop. They need to put something in a kitty so if they screw up again, it’s not the taxpayers who pay for it but the profits.

All in all, he pulled some punches, but seemed determined to succeed at taking a huge step toward putting the wheels back on the wagon. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Congress is more like Grandma, or media pundits. With Harry Reid's announcement today that the vote won't happen until after the August recess, it appears the Congress pays more attention to the media pundits than it does to the people they represent.

Jacque