Obama invites GOP to healthcare table

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Sunday said he has invited Republican and Democratic leaders to meet with him to work on healthcare reform.

In an interview with CBS News, Obama said he will meet with leaders of both parties next week to go over ideas and then call another session a few weeks later.

"I want to ask them to put their ideas on the table, and then after the recess, which will be a few weeks away, I want to come back and have a large meeting, the Republicans and Democrats, to go through systematically all the best ideas that are out there and move it forward," he said.

During the interview, Obama noted an announcement last week by Anthem Blue Cross, a major healthcare insurer in California, that it is increasing premiums for individual purchasers.

"That's a portrait of the future if we don't do something now," he said. "It's going to keep on beating down families, small businesses, large businesses; it's going to be a huge drain on the economy."

Obama said he was frustrated by the slow pace of congressional action on healthcare reform.

"I would have loved nothing better than to simply come up with some very elegant, academically-approved approach to healthcare, and didn't have any kinds of legislative fingerprints on it and just go ahead and have that passed," he said. "But that's not how it works in our democracy."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., issued a statement calling on the White House to scrap "the current health spending bill," The New York Times reported.

"The fact is Senate Republicans held hundreds of town halls and met with their constituents across the country last year on the need for healthcare reform, outlining ideas for the step-by-step approach that Americans have asked for," McConnell said. "And we know there are a number of issues with bipartisan support that we can start with when the 2,700-page bill is put on the shelf."