Health Care Reform: Too Little, Too Slow

Where does President Obama's call for a bipartisan meeting to jump-start stalled health care legislation leave small business owners? Still twisting in the wind.

The Feb. 25 a meeting of Republicans and Democrats is meant to find common ground — on, among other things, medical liability reform, insurance company reform and drug company distribution plans. But that's two and half weeks away. Meanwhile, businesses must still pay their monthly and quarterly health care premiums. When it comes to a health care fix for the average small business, nothing has changed.

You can't blame business owners for thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I could put my heath insurance premium payment on hold for a few weeks to reconsider its cost? Or watch the Vancouver Olympics? Then I will determine what I will pay for." Why the timeout in Washington, D.C.? Why to count gold medals, of course.

On the Republican side, Senator Mitch McConnell and Representative John Boehner seem to be leading the discussions, while Representative Nancy Pelosi and Senator Harry Reid seem to be in charge for the Democrats. Surely there are five elements of reform that do not need to wait. After all, these four honorable folks and their staffs pretty much know what they will agree to already.

So why the wait? For the Presidential seal of approval? More time to line up their respective constituencies? More snow removal time? Nah…It seems to this observer that this pause is time for some more back-door horse-trading….in other words nothing new. Only in this case it will be between Democrats and Republicans, rather than between House members and Senate Democrats only.

This is a good thing. Perhaps we will get a scaled-down health care law as predicted here last month, but there is nothing fast about the world’s greatest deliberative body.

Meanwhile, small firm owners continue to squirm with uncertainty.

About the best thing that Republican and Democratic health care negotiators can do now is “secretly” agree to what they will then agree to on Feb 25^th — to give the American public the perception that something can be accomplished quickly.

Unless, of course, another major snowstorm blankets Washington.