As he said he would, the President has offered to "explore incorporating" some of the better Republican ideas from last Thursday's summit. [Mr. Obama's letter to the Congressional leaders is set as HTML, here. The letter contains detail on his four main priorities; and his full proposal, in PDF format.]
But also -- as promised -- he warned he is committed to moving reform forward, with or without the minority party's help. Per The New York Times, of just a few moments ago:
. . . .In the letter, the president sought to stress that Democrats and Republicans agreed about the need to fix the health care system, even if they disagreed on the remedies, and he seemed to be trying to build on the public display of bipartisanship at last week’s summit to blunt Republican criticism that Democrats are pursuing a partisan bill.
[President Obama wrote "I also believe that piecemeal reform is not the best way to effectively reduce premiums, end the exclusion of people with pre-existing conditions or offer Americans the security of knowing that they will never lose coverage, even if they lose or change jobs. . . ."]"My ideas have been informed by discussions with Republicans and Democrats, doctors and nurses, health care experts, and everyday Americans — not just last Thursday, but over the course of a yearlong dialogue," the president wrote. "Both parties agree that the health care status quo is unsustainable. And both should agree that it’s just not an option to walk away from the millions of American families and business owners counting on reform. . . ."
[This blog's coverage, from last week is here; and a live blog archive, may be found here.]
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