White House Details Health Summit

The White House today sent out invitations for its Feb. 25 health-reform summit, detailed the format for the televised proceedings, and said it would post its own proposal online ahead of time. The leaders of both parties in the House and Senate are on the list, and tasked with choosing more legislators to bring along. Per the plan—of which Republicans have been suspicious and say might keep them from attending—the event will kick off with President Obama and a member of each party speaking.

Then, according to the letter from White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and Health secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Obama “will then open and moderate discussion on four critical topics: insurance reforms, cost containment, expanding coverage, and the impact health reform legislation will have on deficit reduction.” The GOP has many questions, a spokesman tells Politico. “We need answers before we know if the White House is more interested in partisan theater than in facilitating a productive dialogue about solutions.”
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