LOS ANGELES AND WASHINGTON — When Barack Obama steps into the Oval Office in January, healthcare reform will join a list of priorities crowded with two wars, a ballooning budget deficit and an economy mired in one of the worst slowdowns since the Great Depression.
But the bleak environment may paradoxically spur the kind of costly, sweeping overhaul of the nation's healthcare system that has eluded policymakers in Washington for decades, many political strategists, industry leaders and economists say.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday, November 19, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 2 inches; 61 words Type of Material: Correction
Healthcare: An article in Tuesday's Section A about the prospects for healthcare reform in Washington said the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America had launched an ad campaign opposing Barack Obama's proposal to allow the federal government to negotiate lower Medicare drug prices. The ad campaign urges affordable health insurance but does not oppose government negotiation of lower Medicare drug prices.
Hospitals and physicians are increasingly worried about the escalating burden of newly unemployed workers being thrown onto the rolls of the uninsured.
Liberal advocacy groups see the Treasury Department's $700-billion commitment to banks and other financial institutions bolstering the case for a similar investment to help sick Americans get medical care.
And businesses see new urgency in addressing the nation's healthcare crisis as they struggle to pay costs for medical benefits while sales plummet and profit margins shrivel.
When Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) last week announced an outline for universal health coverage, he was applauded by dozens of interest groups across the ideological spectrum.
"Healthcare reform is very much linked to the broader economic issues that the country is facing," said Todd Stottlemyer, president of the National Federation of Independent Business. "Our view is that there is the energy now to make this a top priority."
Fifteen years ago, the federation, which represents about 300,000 small businesses, helped fight the Clinton administration's proposed healthcare overhaul. Today, it is one of the leading champions of broad-based reform.
"I have never seen an effort like this," said Ron Pollack, who heads Families USA, a nonprofit consumer group promoting a healthcare overhaul.
Even the most sanguine observers concede it will be immensely difficult to reshape a healthcare sector that makes up 16% of the nation's economy and move tens of millions of uninsured Americans into the system.
Democrats generally agree on an approach that would allow most Americans to keep their current coverage while creating an exchange so people and businesses without coverage could link up with insurers.
Obama proposed such a plan on the campaign trail, and Baucus offered his own version last week.
