WASHINGTON — Even as President Barack Obama set August as a "make-or-break" deadline for overhauling the health care system, Tom Daschle, who was the president's first choice to run the effort, predicted just a "50-50 chance that something's going to pass."
The former Senate majority leader spoke Tuesday at the National Press Club, where he debated Michael Leavitt, who served as secretary of health and human services under President George W. Bush.
During the Clinton administration, Daschle explained, many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle made optimistic predictions about a health overhaul, but "15 years later, we know how wrong that was." Based on his experiences in Congress, he said, the chances this year are "no better than 50-50," although he'd "like to think it's better than that."
Leavitt had a different take on the issue, saying there's a "political imperative" for some kind of change. He predicted, however, that any final legislation would represent an "incremental approach" that might include a Medicaid expansion.
Daschle and Leavitt managed to find common ground on a number of issues Tuesday, but they also sparred over whether a public plan option should be included. Leavitt called the public plan a "Trojan Horse" that used words like "competition" and "choice" but would result in some employers dropping coverage, denying millions of Americans the option of a private plan.
Daschle responded by saying that lawmakers would have to decide whether they're "designing this system for the insurance companies" or for the American people. "It's hard for me to understand how you can be a proponent of choice but an opponent of greater choice," he added, referring to those who support an insurance market with several private options but no public plan.
Daschle and Leavitt agreed that the government has a major role to play in improving the health care system. They also agreed that removing the tax exclusion for employer-sponsored health benefits could be a fair and cost-effective way to pay for an overhaul.
(Kaiser Health News is an editorially independent news service and is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization that's not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.)
MORE FROM KAISER HEALTH NEWS
Coverage of the nation's health-care debate
MORE FROM MCCLATCHY
Are health groups' voluntary actions enough? Likely not
Health care groups pledge to slow rising costs
Medicare oversight must improve, U.S. attorney tells Senate