The New York Review of Books
By Theodore R. Marmor, Jonathan Oberlander
Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis
by Senator Tom Daschle, with Scott S. Greenberger and Jeanne M. Lambrew
Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's, 226 pp., $23.95
Barack Obama has long emphasized the importance of reforming American medical care, both as a candidate in the 2008 election and as president. During the month of June, however, he dramatically increased his efforts to secure major reform legislation by the end of the year.
The President is using his oratorical skills to rally support for reform. In a series of speeches and town hall meetings, Obama made his case for expanding insurance coverage and controlling medical spending. Speaking before the annual meeting of the American Medical Association in Chicago on June 15, for example, he painted a familiar, distressing portrait of a health care system that costs too much, leaves too many Americans without adequate insurance, and too often provides substandard care. The President warned of the dire consequences if these problems were not promptly addressed:
Make no mistake: the cost of our health care is a threat to our economy. It's an escalating burden on our families and businesses. It's a ticking time-bomb for the federal budget. And it is unsustainable for the United States of America.
Yet as the President expands his involvement in the health care debate, health reformers have concluded that time is not on their side. Delay and the President's popularity might well ebb. Congress could become more cautious as the 2010 elections approach. The longer the health care debate drags on, the more time opponents have to mobilize against and foster public anxiety about reform. And with federal budget deficits soaring, the political opportunities to finance expanded health insurance coverage may fade.
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