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Health Care Podcast: January 25, 2010 [Running Time: 2:51]

Last week’s election of Republican Scott Brown to the Senate brought the Democratic agenda, particularly health care reform, to a halt. This week, the President is scheduled to give his State of the Union Address and will need to work to reassure the American public that that the Democratic agenda is the vehicle to move the country in the right direction. 

The Massachusetts election only makes the President’s planned message of job creation and economic recovery all the more important.  The outcome of the election was in large part a referendum on the economy with a nearly 10 percent unemployment rate and the year-long health care reform debate. The President will certainly speak about health care possibly with a tie in to job creation. A recent report released by the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress, asserts that health care reform could increase the number of jobs in the U.S. by 250,000 to 400,000 per year in the next 10 years. The report estimates that reform will create more than 200,000 new jobs in manufacturing and nearly 900,000 jobs in services by 2016. The Administration will continue to push for health care reform as a way to improve the economy and to help alleviate the pressure of increasing health care costs on middle-class families.

Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia, who was sworn into office just last week, will deliver the Republican address following the President’s State of the Union address. Having made a first order of business the creation of a statewide commission dedicated to creating jobs, the Governor will discuss the failure of the Democrats to adequately address the weak state of the economy. We expect that he will classify the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Democrats’ most significant legislation in 2009, as failing to create or save jobs.

Whether President Obama lays out a plan for health care reform during his State of the Union Address or not, unless Speaker Pelosi brings House Democrats together to pass the Senate bill, we expect that incremental reform legislation is the path that Democrats are most likely to use.