Blame it on Brio

In Great Britain they speak of “bespoke” healthcare.  Here at home, it seems, we are talking about “misspoke” healthcare.

After President Obama’s “historic” meeting with six major health care organizations, Robert Pear reports that, “confusion swirled in Washington as the companies’ trade associations raced to tamp down angst among members around the country.”

For those of you who missed the details or were otherwise caught up in the NHL and NBA playoffs, the President announced that, from 2010 to 2019, the major players in American healthcare pledged to cut the rate of growth of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year or about $2 trillion over all.

However, Pear writes, “Health care leaders who attended the meeting have a different interpretation. They say they agreed to slow health spending in a more gradual way and did not pledge specific year-by-year cuts.”

And here’s the fun part:

“Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform, said “the president misspoke” on Monday and again on Wednesday when he described the industry’s commitment in similar terms. After providing that account, Ms. DeParle called back about an hour later on Thursday and said: “I don’t think the president misspoke. His remarks correctly and accurately described the industry’s commitment.”

Thanks for the clarification, Nancy.

According to those who were at the meeting, there was some misspeaking by the President.

The Washington office of the American Hospital Association sent a bulletin to its state and local affiliates to “clarify several points” about the White House meeting.

In the bulletin, Richard J. Pollack, the executive vice president of the hospital association, said: “The A.H.A. did not commit to support the ‘Obama health plan’ or budget. No such reform plan exists at this time.”

Moreover, Mr. Pollack wrote, “The groups did not support reducing the rate of health spending by 1.5 percentage points annually.”

Two other lobbyists who attended the White House meeting confirmed Mr. Pollack’s account.

One of the lobbyists, Karen M. Ignagni, president of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said the savings would “ramp up” gradually as the growth of health spending slowed.

David H. Nexon, senior executive vice president of the Advanced Medical Technology Association, a trade group for makers of medical devices, said “there was no specific understanding” of when the lower growth rate would be achieved.

Maybe it was a typo on the teleprompter.