The above graph from Dan Diamond on Twitter makes clear the role healthcare reform played in President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union address: Not much.
As predicted by MedCity News on Monday, Obama’s 2012 State of the Union featured only passing references to health policy, as the president chose to focus more broadly on economic issues such as boosting U.S. manufacturing and reforming the tax code.
“I’m a Democrat, but I believe what Republican Abraham Lincoln believed: That government should do for people only what they cannot do better by themselves, and no more,” Obama said in the speech. “That’s why we’re getting rid of regulations that don’t work. That’s why our healthcare law relies on a reformed private market, not a government program.”
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As The Hill’s Healthwatch notes, Obama made no mention of tort reform, a pet issue for conservatives that he’s indicated in the past that he’d be willing to work on with Republicans.
(And that’s probably a good thing, because tort reform won’t do much to reduce health costs, anyway.)