Even as media reports describe a sharp increase in the partisan wrangling around Thursday's healthcare reform summit (and with it a diminished chance that a compromise measure will emerge from it), some analysts detect renewed momentum behind the President's healthcare reform plan. The Los Angeles Times (2/24, Levey, Hook) reports that on the eve of the summit, "Democratic lawmakers are increasingly confident that they can resurrect their sweeping overhaul legislation after weeks of uncertainty about whether they could overcome the unified opposition of Republicans." By using the "bare-knuckle legislative procedure known as budget reconciliation," Senate Democrats believe they'll get a healthcare package through the Senate, while House liberals such as Reps. Lynn Woolsey (CA) and Anthony Weiner (NY) Tuesday "expressed optimism that Democrats were nearing a breakthrough."

        Meanwhile, The Hill reports that "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said House Democrats can support the major parts of the healthcare proposal released by the White House." Pelosi "didn't object to the lack of a public insurance plan in Obama's bill." Roll Call notes that Democratic leaders Tuesday "launched a massive marketing campaign for...Obama's $950 billion healthcare bill to their Caucus...painting it as a big win even though it omits a public insurance option and still includes a tax on high-cost health plans."

        Political Jostling Ahead Of Summit Described. Still, the AP (2/24, Babington) reports, "Lawmakers from both parties suggested the Obama-hosted meeting Thursday will amount to little more than political theater," and "both parties saw the president's revised, far-reaching proposal, released Monday, as a call for Democrats to try to pass the legislation on their own under Senate rules that would bar Republican delaying tactics."

        Politico notes that "the Democrats' unstated goal, of course, is to make congressional Republicans look like a bunch of whiny, cynical, ideologically bankrupt crybabies who don't have a plan of their own." And "a good performance by Obama, contrasting his $950 billion reform plan with the GOP's scaled-back measures, could give the renewed effort to jump-start the process real momentum."

        The Washington Post (2/24, Murray, Bacon) reports, "Republicans are preparing to use Thursday's White House healthcare summit to sell their own ideas for using the private marketplace to expand coverage and reduce costs, but they remain wary of fumbling away what they believe is an advantage on the issue heading into this year's critical midterm elections." The Post adds that "the Republican summit strategy is twofold: to portray the Obama plan as radical and ruinously expensive, while reassuring a potential television audience of millions that the GOP takes the healthcare crisis seriously and is prepared to address it head on."

The AP (2/24, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports that President Obama "urged Congress on Tuesday to strip health insurers of their decades-old exemption from federal antitrust laws -- hardening his stand against the industry as he tries to revive his stalled healthcare overhaul." White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "Removing this exemption will allow appropriate enforcement and examination of potential policies that might prove uncompetitive, or might stifle competition."

        Reuters (2/24) also noted Obama's support for removal of the antitrust exemption, adding that AHIP president Karen Ignani countered, "Health insurance is one of the most regulated industries in America at both the federal and the state levels. ... The real focus should be on addressing the rising cost of medical care."

        CQ Today reports that the House is expected to vote on the legislation on Wednesday. "House Rules Chairwoman Louise M. Slaughter, D-N.Y., said almost no state regulators have the power or the resources to take on the health insurance industry, and federal laws are necessary as an additional layer of protection."

        Antitrust Exemption Blamed For Health Insurance Rate Increases. In an op-ed in the New York Times (2/24, A27), Robert B. Reich, professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley and former secretary of labor, attributes health insurance rate increases by California's Anthem Blue Cross -- where he has insurance -- to the health insurance industry's antitrust exemption. "But that protection could soon end: President Obama on Tuesday announced his support of a House bill that would repeal health insurers' antitrust exemption, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled that she would put it toward an immediate vote." Reich calls this "promising news," concluding that "we've got to make sure health insurers compete for every one of our dollars."