Obama wants bipartisan healthcare action

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- A bipartisan discussion about jobs and the U.S. economy touched on how lawmakers can move ahead on healthcare reform, President Barack Obama said Tuesday.

Obama announced previously he'll meet with congressional Democratic and Republican leaders Feb. 25 for a television discussion of healthcare reform. He has said he would be willing to consider healthcare reform ideas from both parties.

After the meeting Tuesday, Obama told reporters he would subject reform proposals to critical questions.

"I'm looking forward to a constructive debate," he said, "with plans that need to be measured against this test: Does it bring down costs for all Americans, as well as for the federal government, which spends a huge amount on healthcare? Does it provide adequate protection against abuses by the insurance industry? Does it make coverage affordable and available to the tens of millions of working Americans who don't have it right now? And does it help us get on a path of fiscal sustainability?"

Noting news reports that Anthem Blue Cross, the largest insurer in California, indicated it would raise premiums for many individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent, Obama said, "If we don't act, this is just a preview of coming attractions: Premiums will continue to rise for folks with insurance, millions more will lose their coverage altogether, our deficits will continue to grow larger."

In a letter to the White House Monday, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia said GOP members would be "reluctant to participate" in the meeting if the bills passed by the House and the Senate were the starting point. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., the ranking minority member of the Budget Committee, while welcoming the invitation, expressed concern that the meeting would become "an arena for political theater."

Bipartisanship, Obama said, "depends on a willingness among both Democrats and Republicans to put aside matters of party for the good of the country."

"I won't hesitate to embrace a good idea from my friends in the minority party," the president said, "but I also won't hesitate to condemn what I consider to be obstinacy that's rooted not in substantive disagreements but in political expedience."