(5:15) - The President ended by asking Republicans to indicate something that they agree with on the bill, and follow the example of the conservative market based ideas adopted by the Dems.  He said that they don't need to start over because everyone there knows what the issues are, and said he hoped for some movement on the Repub side.  Otherwise, he said, decisions have to be made (implying reconciliation), and that there will be implications, but that, that's what elections are for.

(5:08) - President Obama said that he has used ideas in the plan which Republicans normally embrace, like the exchange, which was something Republicans offered originally.  He added that a report just came out, that for the first time ever, more people get their health-care under government plans, than in the private market, not because of any legislation, but because employers are shedding coverage of employees.

(5:00) -  The President thanked everyone for attending.  He said that according to the polls, the American people want insurance regulation, overwhelmingly, and that both sides could agree on that.  He added that the idea of an exchange is not a government take over, but how the market works.  He used the analogy that, Wal-Mart has a better negotiation position because of the number of people in its pool, which is what is being proposed for regular people.  The President criticized the idea of opening up the market so anyone can buy anything they want across state lines, which starts the race to the bottom.  It happened in the credit card industry when the companies moved to the state with the least number of laws regulating them.

(4:56) - Nancy Pelosi said that they have market oriented policies on the table to level the playing field between insurance companies and individuals.  She corrected John Boehner, saying that there is no tax payer funding for abortions, and added that the claim seniors will have programs cut from Medicare is also not true. 

(4:51)  John Dingell said that he doesn't think there is anything wrong with a majority vote to help people. 

(4:46) - Charlie Rangel said that the goal should be to cover more people, lower the cost curve, and lower the deficit.

(4:42) - Tom Coburn said that the goal is to make people better purchasers in the free market, limiting the roll of the government. 

(4:34) - Mitch McConnell said people making $69 thousand a year aren't wealthy, and that the bill should be scrapped because the current system is the finest in the world.

(4:32) - Ron Wyden said that one side wants comprehensive reform and one side wants incremental reform, but he said that incremental reform costs more and does less.

(4:24) - So, the long and the short of this whole meeting, is that the Democrats have finally explained the exchange system they envision in their plan, and the Republicans want to scrap the bill and start over.  Saying that, there were several areas where both sides agreed generally, but there will be no bipartisan support for a bill.  We'll see if reconciliation will be successful, or if Democrats will fold.

(4:17) - President Obama said that Medicaid, which covers very poor people and does need fixing, but that the real problem were those people who are working and have no place to go for coverage.  He then mentioned the exchange program again.

(4:15) - Now he says scrap the bill.

(4:09) - Rep Peter. Roskam from Illinois, said that he doesn't like the premise of the Senate bill because he says it's entitlement expansion.  He says Medicare and Medicaid is not sustainable, which I suppose means that he would like to see it phased out.

(4:01) - The President slapped down Barrasso by saying that the people they were trying to help weren't Premier's and Sultans who can afford the best care in the country.  They were trying to help people who work every day, but still couldn't afford care.

(3:56) - John Barrasso says to scrap the bill and that everyone should have catastrophic health-care insurance.  He pointed out that Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams came from Canada to the U.S. for a heart procedure. 

(3:50) - The President asked the group, "can we do what the rest of the western world does, and cover the majority of people while reducing costs?"  He answered his own question by pushing the idea of creating exchanges to pool people together to lower costs.  He said Boehner's idea would cover an additional 3 million people and the Dem plan would cover an additional 30 million people.  He said that we have to decide if, we as a society believe that our goal should be to cover more people or not.

(3:47) - Dick Durbin said that medical malpractice was a valid issue, but that malpractice suits alone are not enough to fix the problem.

(3:41) - The President said that he believes that the majority of people don't understand how reconciliation actually  works and that he believed the American people want an up or down vote sometime soon.  He added, that he could find common ground for TORT reform, although doing that, in and of itself, will not be enough to save Medicare and Medicaid.

(3:39) - John McCain criticized the idea of reconciliation, saying that if reconciliation is invoked on health-care the country will be destroyed.

(3:36) - John McCain came back to the Mic to discuss medical malpractice reform, adding that people from Arizona hate Californians because they stole their water. 

(3:30) - President Obama laughed at Boehner's talking points and rhetoric, lamenting that he was interested in substance, and explained that the CBO's numbers showed that the bill will reduce the deficit, and lower spending.

(3:26) - Jon Boehner speaks!  Scrap the entirely too long bill!  This is a Government take over, and is a dangerous experiment!  It will raise taxes!  This bill will force taxpayers to pay for abortions! (it doesn't).  We need to lower costs on health-care! (no plan provided for that)

(3:24) - Kent Conrad reiterated that Medicare and Medicaid will be broke by the end of the decade.

(3:19) - Chuck Grassley doesn't like the idea of cuts to Medicare Advantage.  The President explained that the program wasn't paid for when it was passed, and that the people in the program aren't better off while paying more money to be in it. 

(3:16) - Chuck Grassley says he learned a lot about health-care by participating in many hours of bipartisan meetings with Democrats.

(3:12) - Chuck Grassley criticized the CBO numbers as well, claiming that they counted certain data twice, implying that the CBO is untrustworthy.  He was also upset with the mandate, saying it is unconstitutional, even though car insurance is mandated.

(3:03) - Dems called out Rep. Ryan for doubting the CBO numbers for the Senate health-care bill, and he responded that he believes in the CBO, but he doesn't believe in the reality of their numbers.  I'm not exactly sure how that hair was split.

(2:58) - President Obama said that he couldn't find an independent expert to say that Medicare Advantage was working well, and that the 'donut hole' needed to be filled.

(2:51) - Rep. Paul Ryan, the architect of the Republican shadow budget which phases out Medicare and Medicaid, criticized the Senate health bill as not reducing costs and nothing but smoke and mirrors.  The CBO scored the original Senate bill as reducing the deficit by at least $120 billion over the first decade and over a trillion dollars over the second decade.

(2:44) - Vice President Biden went over a list of items both sides can agree on, lowering costs, attacking the deficit, and minimizing waste.  Emphasizing that the Senate plan reduces spending by over a trillion dollars over 2 decades.

(2:37) - The President said that that is a basic concept.  The more people in the same pool, the lower the costs for everyone.  He reminded those in attendance that those with insurance are already covering people without insurance when people go to the emergency room.  The mandate is a way to reconcile this problem.

(2:29) - He really doesn't like health insurance companies. calling them sharks just below the water.

(2:24) - Senator Rockefeller is not a fan of health insurance companies, explaining that profit is the prime motivator to kick people off their insurance they paid for, for whatever reason they feel like giving.

(2:19) - President Obama made the point that the Republican idea for a high risk pool for only sick people in the Jon Boehner bill, will mean very high premiums for people with pre-existing conditions.  He pointed out that at least 21 states already have high risk pools that have about 200,000 people and that prices are very high, while having everyone (sick and healthy) in the same pool would lower costs for everyone because the risk is spread out.

(2:18) - Rep. Dave Camp doesn't like the power given to the Health Secretary to establish guidelines for the insurance industry.  That, and he thinks the individual mandate sucks.

(2:13) - Dems don't like an incremental approach because of the large numbers of people who are without insurance, or are about to lose their insurance, who will die before they can pass small bits of legislation here and there.

(2:05) - Mike Enzi does not like the mandate, which would have to be adopted by the states, because if 26 states approve of the mandate and create the exchange the Dems are proposing then it would mean a national take over of health-care.

(1:45) - They are about to start the afternoon session, but the word coming out so far is that nothing is going to get done today, and that Democrats will be going for 51 votes down the road.

(12:58) - The meeting is breaking until 1:45PM so that the House can vote on a bill.

(12:50) - Cantor hates the mandate to buy insurance, which the president explained was a way to solve the problem of people only buying insurance once they became sick, to which Cantor responded that it was too expensive and to scrap the bill and start over.

(12:45) - President Obama made fun of Cantor for using props as political theatre and asked for a real conversation.  He then went on to explain the exchanges being proposed and how they will lower costs.

(12:39) - Eric Cantor said that they don't like the Senate bill because of philosophical differences.  He doesn't believe health-care is a right and that any plan based off the skeleton of the Senate bill couldn't be supported.  Another scrap it and start over vote.

(12:34) - Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of Health pointed out that the current system was designed to charge the sickest people the most money, and pushed the concept of exchanges for people to leverage their numbers into lower costs.

(12:30) - McCain hit on every talking point in the Republican arsenal in his comments on health-care.  It's too damned long to read!

(12:26) - John McCain criticized back room shenanigans and was personally offended because the health-care process wasn't on CSPAN enough.  By the way this is the campaign version of John McCain who is fighting off a conservative challenger for the upcoming mid terms.

(12:16) - Republicans say they agree with stopping Insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, and abolish lifetime and annual caps.

(12:10) - Lots of vague talk about agreements on various items.

(11:52) - Senator Jon Kyl does not like the Democratic plan on philosophical reasons that he doesn't get into, and reintroduces the same premium rate increase numbers that Obama corrected another Republican on 40 minutes ago.

(11:48) - New Gallup poll says 54% don't believe Republicans will make a sincere effort at compromise.

(11:37) - It's becoming clear that there is going to be a lot of overlap with all of these introductory statements.  It's all posturing so far and now there are some complaints about the time being used to talk.  I'll let you know when it's not so boring.

(11:27) - Max Baccaus said that common ground could be found with lawsuits and buying insurance across state lines, although not the same way Republicans would do it. 

(11:24) - The response was that they didn't like the size of the bill, saying it's too large, and that they should scrap everything an start over smaller.  He said that a better way was to allow businesses to enter into exchanges instead of people so that business costs are lowered.

(11:21) - The President asked Republicans what they thought was wrong with creating large exchanges like government employees are in, to improve purchasing power, when they purchase insurance.

(11:14) - Steny Hoyer talked about the proposed exchanges to improve choice and lower costs, while fighting fraud and improving care.

(11:06) - Tom Coburn, who is a medical doctor, spoke vaguely about fraud and waste and that Dems and Repubs could find common ground. 

(11:03) - Mitch McConnell reiterated the Republican position to scrap everything and start the process over.

(10:58) - Lamar Alexander interrupted the President to disagree on a CBO report, and the President explained why his position was incorrect.  He also added that he would be handing out the information to the press and the Republicans so that everyone can get on the same page.

(10:57) - The President introduced a Republican idea to set up exchanges to promote customer choice and competition.

(10:55) - President Obama said that everyone seemed to agree with lowering costs so the meeting will focus on that first. 

(10:49) - 750,000 bankruptcies last year due to medical expenses.

(10:47) - Harry Reid reminded those in attendance that reconciliation has been used 21 times since 1981, including for the Bush tax cuts for the rich.

(10:45) - Harry Reid's remarks focused on ending pre-existing conditions and added a little jab at the Republican Lamar Alexander, saying he's entitled to his opinion, but he's not entitled to his own facts.

(10:39) - Nancy Pelosi said that it is our moral obligation to address entitlement reform, to prevent bankruptcy in the not too distant future.  She added that reform to fix the system will help create jobs.

(10:36) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began her comments with a determination to repeal the monopoly exemption that health insurance companies get currently, praising the work in the House to pass a bill doing this with a massive majority.

(10:29) - Lamar Alexander at the end of his remarks chastised the President for rumours that Democrats are considering reconciliation, fear mongering that it would be tyranny of the majority.

(10:22) - Republican opening remarks began with (as we expected) a call to scrap the bill entirely and start over.

(10:17) - The plan posted by the administration is what the White House thought was the best combination of the Senate and House bills that have passed mixed with ideas from the Republicans.  Mr. Obama hoped the focus would be on lowering costs, reducing future deficits, and creating an exchange for people to have the same choice of options as members of Congress.

(10:12AM) - President Obama said during his opening remarks that Health-care costs will bankrupt the government without addressing the situation.

Watch Obama's opening remarks below:




(9:30AM) - Today is the day for the Health-care Summit, where Republicans and Democrats will debate and try to find consensus on a bill that can be passed to help lower costs and cover more people.  Sounds a bit like an oxymoron, but the idea is to mandate that healthy people buy health insurance so that costs are reduced for everyone. 

From my perspective this entire meeting is a bit of theatre with a point.  Republicans, and those opposed to any health legislation hammered the Democrats for not showing enough of the health-care debate on television, and now that this meeting will be televised, the usual suspects say it's a waste of time and that they should start over.

There was a summit last year with groups from all political stripes (except a single payer group) and members of the industry, all on TV, but apparently that one doesn't count.  What people need to know is that this group of Republicans does not want health insurance reform, they want to phase out health related government programs.  RNC leader Michael Steele was asked this morning if he thought Health-care was a right or a privilege, and he said that it was a privilege, adding that it was this fundamental difference that would sink any chance at compromise.

As for the Democrats, their only options left to minimize the number of seats they will lose in November, is to get something passed that will quickly be noticed by the public.  Reconciliation looks like what is really going to happen when it comes to a bill possibly being passed.  They know that the meeting today isn't going to get anything accomplished so they are focusing on getting 51 votes in the Senate to get at least pre-existing conditions passed within the next month and a half.

I'll be adding to this post, at the top all day long from 10AM until the meeting is over at 4PM this afternoon.

Watch the entire broadcast live below: