Baton Rouge Advocate
By Gerard Shields
February 12, 2010

“…Earlier in the week, Obama announced that he would be holding a health-care summit with Republicans and Democrats in two weeks. Louisiana House Republicans such as [Representative Bill] Cassidy say they want to be invited to the session but express skepticism that Obama is sincere about listening to their ideas.

Cassidy is not interested in attending if Obama intends to use the event to push his health-care plan rather than listen to Republican ideas and reach some common ground.

‘It will be worthwhile if it’s the latter,’ Cassidy said Wednesday. ‘Then I’d love to go.’…

‘We don’t know whether this is one more time when our hopes will be raised and then shut down,’ said [Representative John] Fleming, a family practitioner. ‘We’re a little skeptical that Democrats have all of a sudden changed their attitude and will work with the Republicans.’…

Louisiana U.S. House GOP members agree on what they would like to see come out of the talk. They want medical liability reform putting a cap on damages that people can sue a doctor for and the fees that can be recouped by attorneys.

They want consumers to be able to purchase insurance across state lines to foster more competition. They want to see the elimination of the ability of insurance companies to reject clients based on pre-existing medical conditions.

And they want support for health savings accounts and to let consumers hold onto their insurance when they switch jobs…

‘I appreciate the president’s offer for a summit, but the American people want us to start over with reforms that will bring costs down,’ [Representative Charles] Boustany said in a statement. ‘If the president only wants to use this summit as a pep rally for his plan, it won’t be effective.’

Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, of Metairie, has sent several letters to the White House accepting past Obama statements that he was willing to listen to Republican ideas. Scalise never received a response, he said.

‘I hope they don’t try to turn it into some show,’ Scalise said of the summit. ‘There are some things we agree on, but there are also deal breakers.’”

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