Obama Campaign Activists Find Health Care Harder Sell (Update1)

By Heidi Przybyla

June 17 (Bloomberg) -- When Patricia McArdle volunteered for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, her duties and goals were clear. Now she’s devoting her time to his health-care plan and says she’s confused and frustrated.

Obama, who enlisted a 13 million-member grassroots army to help him win the White House, is trying to remobilize those people to build support for his proposed overhaul.

That goal may prove elusive. The constituencies that joined forces to back Obama the candidate disagree over the scope of the health-care overhaul, particularly whether it should create a so-called single-payer system that reimburses providers through a government-run fund.

And turning out the vote is far simpler than influencing legislation to remake an industry that accounts for 17 percent of the economy, said McArdle, 62, a retired diplomat. “The election was easy because it was telling you to do one thing: vote for Obama,” she said. Working on health care is “kind of frustrating.”

Obama is pursuing a goal that has eluded presidents of both parties for the past 60 years. He is counting on volunteers such as McArdle to help him marshal public support to overcome resistance to some aspects of his plan from hospitals, doctors and companies such as Louisville, Kentucky-based Humana Inc., the second-largest U.S. provider of government-backed health benefits.

‘Potential to Disrupt’

Humana’s chief executive officer, Michael McCallister, said in a June 15 interview that any government-run health plan “has the potential to disrupt 170 million people who get coverage through their employer or individually.”

The campaign organization that harnessed the Internet through Facebook, e-mails and online fundraising to get Obama elected says it will send lawmakers thousands of stories from Americans struggling under the current system. Those campaign- style tactics may not prove as effective when it comes to driving policy.

“It’s an experiment,” said Paul Tewes, a strategist who ran Obama’s campaign in Iowa. “Are they going to do it with the same intensity that they did on Nov. 5? That’s a challenge.”

‘In Favor of Reform’

Obama said June 15 that his health-care overhaul has support that previous failed efforts such as President Bill Clinton’s in 1994 didn’t have. “For the first time, key stakeholders are aligning not against, but in favor of reform,” he said in a speech to the American Medical Association in Chicago.

This backing may also add to the challenges because of the different agendas of unions, consumers and associations representing companies such as Fairfield, Connecticut-based General Electric Co. and Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. They are divided over whether to include a government-run insurance plan, change reimbursement rates for providers and tax some benefits to pay for the proposal.

The confusion was evident on June 6, at the first health- care meeting of Organizing for America, a Washington-based group that aims to deploy volunteers to push Obama’s plan.

McArdle was among a handful of people who gathered in Arlington, Virginia, expecting to receive marching orders. The meeting was one of thousands held across the country that day by the group, which is overseen by Obama’s former campaign manager, David Plouffe.

Policy Questions

By the end of the gathering, McArdle was one of several participants who said they were unclear about issues ranging from policy to strategy and the rules of organizing. Some proposed lobbying Congress for a single-payer provision Obama opposes. She said she was concerned over whether it’s legal to leaflet cars at a mall.

“I don’t want to get arrested,” McArdle told those assembled. She said the lack of direction was a contrast with the specific orders volunteers received during the campaign.

The Democratic National Committee said it is aware of the problems and is working on ways to better organize volunteers, including a new Web site.

“We’re really priming the pump,” said Brad Woodhouse, the committee’s communications director. “We’ll make more explicit calls for members to call members of Congress as we reach key votes.”

McArdle’s group wants to sign up 1,000 volunteers to distribute signs and flyers at subway stations and on Capitol Hill on June 27, its first event.

Coalition

The president has lined up some help for his health-care push. Health Care for America NOW, a Washington-based coalition of 1,030 groups with 30 million members, has announced plans to spend $82 million on the issue. The House of Representatives wants to hammer out legislation before a recess that begins Aug. 3, and Health Care for America is planning to hold 250 meetings with lawmakers this month.

Mark Siegel, a former DNC executive director, played down the differences among Democrats.

“When they get their marching orders I know they will march,” he said.

Obama also has some allies Clinton didn’t have. Companies including Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Minneapolis-based General Mills Inc. have joined coalitions pushing an overhaul in response to rising costs.

Companies and Labor

One group that opposed Clinton’s plan, the Nashville, Tennessee-based National Federation of Independent Business, has joined with groups like the Washington-based Service Employees International Union, which represents service-industry workers, to back overhauling the health care system. They aren’t advocating any particular plan.

Still, the Organizing for America meeting pointed to a potential problem for Obama: an alliance that may have become too broad.

“There are many strange-bedfellow alliances,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, which is running television ads with Phrma, the Washington pharmaceutical lobby it was at odds with in 2003 over legislation to provide a drug benefit under Medicare.

Chris Jennings, a Clinton health-care policy adviser in 1994, said the coalition would come under stress when lawmakers begin crafting the legislation. That will be the “real test,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heidi Przybyla at hprzybyla@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 17, 2009 10:35 EDT

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