After the healthcare “summit”

Dick Taffe — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:11:49 +0000

With President Obama’s ballyhooed healthcare “summit” with Republicans over, political science Professors Graham Wilson and Douglas Kriner offered their takes on what it all means (or doesn’t).

WILSON: ”The session showed that there are differences that can’t be bridged. But in purely political terms, neither the President not the Democrats can afford to be seen to have been defeated and enter the midterm campaign with nothing to show on this signature issue.”

KRINER: “The administration did not seem very open to approaches that varied significantly from the Senate bill. This would seem to suggest that both Republican priorities, like comprehensive tort reform, and Democratic ones, like re-introducing the public option, are unlikely to generate real support from the White House.”

Contact Graham Wilson, 617-353-2540, gkwilson@bu.edu, or Douglas Kriner, 617-358-4643, dkriner@bu.edu

Healthcare reform update

Dick Taffe — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:12:09 +0000

With President Obama inviting Congressional Republicans to a Feb. 25 summit in hopes of reviving healthcare reform legislation, political jockeying is under way. House GOP leaders say they may boycott unless the bills that passed both Democrat-controlled chambers are scrapped. School of Management Professor Stephen Davidson, author of ”Still Broken: Understanding the U.S. Healthcare System” says the GOP should take advantage of the bipartisan offer.

“Maybe the Republicans will have good ideas that can be incorporated into the bills. If not, the public will see the emptiness of their rhetoric.”

Contact Stephen Davidson, 617-353-7422, sdavidso@bu.edu

BU Now » healthcare summit

After the healthcare “summit”

Healthcare reform update