Judd Gregg Could be Key to Health Care Reform Compromise....

Insuring Resources Commentary:

This could be quite constructive especially since Gregg is open to creating Accountable Care Organization's which have been proven to provide efficient, quality care. Sen. Gregg (R- New Hampshire) is a moderate and focuses his reform ideas on preventive care, disease management, and wellness program incentives for employers. The Democrats need to compromise by including Gregg's proposals and scaling back just a bit. There appears to be some room in the middle here particularly if Gregg can bring along some of his GOP colleagues like Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).

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From Politico, 2/11/2010
Is Judd Gregg a tease or a real potential partner for President Barack Obama in trying to salvage some health care reform in this Congress?


That’s one question the White House has to answer for itself before the much-ballyhooed televised sit-down with Republicans on Feb. 25 on how to break the current stalemate. But it’s clear already that Gregg’s restless energy is drawing him back into the fray, and the New Hampshire conservative brings both a proven ability to swing Republican votes and a background in health care and deficit issues.

In a letter to Obama released late Tuesday, Gregg welcomed the meeting as a chance for “constructive dialogue” and is promoting his own lower-cost approach focused on preventive care and guaranteed catastrophic coverage for all families.

His letter warns the president that the House- and Senate-passed health care bills can’t be the sole basis for the discussions. But in a series of interviews with POLITICO, Gregg has been open to specific deficit-reduction and cost-containment steps that could be taken to win Republicans’ support for health reform.

“I’m not on their reach-out list, so nothing may come of this,” Gregg said in an interview Wednesday. “But I’m ready to sit down and try to be helpful.”

Obama may feel burned already by Gregg, who famously accepted then gave back the president’s nomination to be commerce secretary last year. And the changes Gregg will want are sure to aggravate the White House’s already frayed relationship with the left.

Yet the same qualities that first made Gregg attractive as a Cabinet nominee remain. He brings a record of bipartisan deal making and good personal ties to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). And getting Gregg on board makes it far easier for Maine’s two moderate Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, to work with the White House.

If anything, the political ground has shifted in his direction since he gave up the Commerce option. And Obama’s own budget projections this month make it harder for Congress to separate health care from the debate over the government’s mounting deficits and debt — Gregg’s natural turf.

What’s more of a mixed blessing is his lame-duck status since he will step down from the Senate at the end of this year.

Gregg is anxious to make a difference in his last months. At the same time, conservatives recently used his retirement date as a way to isolate Gregg and undercut his bipartisan plan — embraced by Obama — to create a statutory fiscal commission empowered to force votes on deficit reduction after the November elections.

Going into the Feb. 25 meeting, the White House is still pursuing a more comprehensive and costly package than Gregg can accept. The half-day session may prove a last gambit by the president to help him bring Democrats together for a final push.

DETAILS
Below is the Essentials of Greg's plan:

The centerpiece is his plan to begin reform by first guaranteeing access to a low-premium policy that protects against catastrophic costs but also expressly allows preventive benefits and disease management under the deductible. He would modify the existing Health Insurance Portability and Accessibility Act to allow employers greater freedom to reward workers who participate in wellness programs, such as giving up smoking or losing weight. And given his New Hampshire roots, he subscribes to a host of the so-called Dartmouth reforms to promote accountable care organizations and incentivize “shared decision making” between physicians and elderly patients about treatment options.

His approach is sure to face criticism for being too late and too small bore. But Gregg’s already shown a willingness to work with Democrats on a compromise related to the HIPAA changes he wants. Having a true catastrophic, major medical option for people being mandated to buy insurance fits his mode of “middle working out.”


“We can all agree that no American should lose their life savings or their home because of illness or injury and that the rising cost of health care severely burdens individuals, families and businesses,” Gregg wrote in his letter to Obama this week. “Report after report also confirms that health care costs are a systemic risk to the long-term fiscal health of our nation.”



Rea