Obama Comes Home to Pitch New Health Care Plan

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Jun 15, 2009 2:00PM

We mentioned last week President Obama is making a brief return visit to town today to speak to the annual meeting of the American Medical Association House of Delegates. Most pundits see the address as the first in what will be a growing and ongoing tussle over Obama's new health care package. But others, including the Tribune, are focusing more on the cost of Obama's trip home than what he has to say to the AMA. President Obama won't stay long, flying back to D.C. later this afternoon after making his appearance. According to the Tribune, the cost of the round-trip on Air Force One will cost around $236,000. And, as the Trib points out, "that does not include such expenses as Secret Service protection, motorcades and helicopter transports." It's believed that Obama will travel by helicopter from O'Hare to a location close to the hotel where he'll be speaking so as not to completely snarl traffic. Of course, buried in the Trib story are concessions that Obama's trips to Chicago are much shorter - and thereby cheaper - than trips taken by previous presidents to their home bases.

And what of the actual reason for Obama's trip? It'll be a pitch to a tough crowd as the AMA has long been resistant to reform, but Obama will appeal to them to support the government insurance plan, the most divisive part of his new health care proposal. According to Politico:

Obama will tell the AMA that a system overhaul cannot wait "another year or another administration," the administration wrote in its outline.

"The president will be clear that reform is the single most important thing we can do for America's long-term fiscal health," the outline stated. "He'll stress that as a nation we spend too much and get too little in return, incurring massive costs that are crushing businesses and families and on leading us toward exploding deficits, weaker benefits, and millions more Americans losing coverage.

"The president will thank the AMA for their leadership in promoting comprehensive reform, and he'll pledge to work with AMA to achieve reform that works for everyone," the outline stated.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release its own outline of a plan later in the week.