THE BIG QUESTION for Feb. 27: Healthcare Plans Realistic?

The Big Question is a feature where influential lawmakers, pundits and interest group leaders give their answers to a question that’s driving discussion in news circles around the country.

Some responses are gathered via e-mail, while others are gathered in person via tape recorder.

Today’s Big Question is:

Are President Obama’s healthcare plans realistic?

See responses below from Richard Kirsch, Michael D. Tanner, Gerald McEntee, Leo W. Gerard, James Floyd, Jeff Blum, Herb London, Bertha Lewis, John Castellani and Maura Pond.

Read the previous Big Question here.

Richard Kirsch, national campaign manager for Health Care for America Now, said:

President Obama’s healthcare plan is not out of the blue. It’s realistic because he created the mandate for his plan when he ran for President. It was a central part of his campaign. Remember, 86 percent of his advertising in October talked about healthcare. Read the full response here.

Michael D. Tanner, senior fellow, The Cato Institute, said:

That President Obama would consider $634 billion over 10 years as merely a ‘down payment’ on health care reform shows just how expensive government health care will be. This should put an end to the idea that health care reform can be paid for through greater efficiency, emphasis on preventive care, electronic medical records, and such. Read the full response here.

Gerald McEntee, president of AFSCME, said:

President Obama’s healthcare plan is realistic and demonstrates that he understands what is needed to get America on the road to economic recovery. We need to expand healthcare coverage and lower costs for families and businesses. Working families stand ready to work with President Obama to make his plan a reality.

Leo W. Gerard, international president of United Steelworkers, said:

President Obama’s healthcare plans are crucial to this country’s competitive future. So we’d better make them real. As President Obama pointed out in his address to the Joint Session of Congress this week, major American manufacturers start at a loss because they pay healthcare costs for their workers but their international competitors do not. Read the full response here.

James Floyd, M.D., researcher at Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said:

President Obama hasn’t given us a proposal yet, but he’s made it clear in the past that he wants universal coverage. This absolutely is something that can be done, despite the protests of the powerful insurance lobby. The question remains: Will we repeat failed attempts from the past to plug holes in the patchwork system we currently have, or will we finally move to a single-payer system of national health insurance that actually covers everyone?

Jeff Blum, executive director of USAction, said:

The United States spends 6 percent more of GDP on healthcare than the next most expensive country, and yet we are less healthy than many countries and healthcare causes more tsuris than in many countries. Read the full response here.

Herb London, president of the Hudson Institute, said:

The Obama team will try to restrict health care expense by mandating cost for care and ultimately engaging in rationing. This may reduce cost at the margin but it will also adversely affect the quality of care in the not too distant future.

Bertha Lewis, CEO and Chief Organizer, ACORN, said:

The Obama healthcare plan is realistic in two important ways. On the one hand it seeks to implement policy prescriptions that will cover virtually all Americans while delivering quality healthcare. Read the full response here.

John Castellani, president, Business Roundtable, said:

Given the current economic climate, it has never been more important for us to invest in building a better, stronger, more efficient healthcare system. Rising healthcare costs affect all American workers, employers and the government, impacting job creation, diminishing the nation’s competitiveness and reducing Americans’ ability to save for retirement. Read the full response here.

Maura Pond, web communications specialist, UFCW, said:

President Obama’s plan for healthcare is not only realistic but absolutely necessary. Our current system is too expensive and unreliable to be sustainable in our time of economic crisis. As the greatest country on earth, America has not only the capacity but the obligation to provide quality, affordable healthcare to every citizen. We can’t afford to wait any longer — not having a plan would be truly unrealistic.