In one of the more tense moments at the health care summit today, Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) and President Obama exchanged words over the cost of the health care reform bills pending in Congress.
“When you start to mandate that everyone in the country has insurance … there are consequences to that,” Cantor said. “We just can’t afford this.”
“That’s the problem here,” the congressman continued. “This government and businesses can’t afford it.”
Obama said concerns about financing the plan were legitimate and that those issues would be addressed later. The president, however, did push back on Cantor’s suggestion that the bills would force eight to nine million of Americans who have insurance to give it up because their premiums would skyrocket.
“The eight to nine million people you say would lose their coverage is because they’re finding a better deal in the exchanges,” Obama said.
“We can have a philosophical disagreement in terms of how much insurance regulation is appropriate,” the president also said. “We agree there has to be some, what are the specific ones you have to object to. Pre-existing conditions is one we theoretically all agree on. Let’s not pretend that any form of regulation is some onerous burden that’s going to result in some terrible thing that’s going to happen to consumers.”
Vice President Joe Biden also chimed in, telling Cantor and the rest of the Republicans that they don’t have a philosophical disagreement with the Democrats about whether the government has a role to play in health care regulation. “If you agree that you can’t be dropped because of a pre-existing condition … than you have acknowledged that the government has a role,” Biden said. “So this idea that we have a fundamental philosophic difference … you’re either in or out.”
