CHAPTER TWELVE

THE WHITE HOUSE – JANUARY 14, 2014

Sprague was still in his office a little after 7 p.m., when his telephone rang. “I suppose you’ve seen the coverage of the speech,” an annoyed President Hart inquired without preamble. “Yes, Madam President,” Sprague answered.

He indeed had seen the coverage, and it hadn’t been pretty. The President was winding up her whirlwind national tour to drum up support for universal healthcare. Her call had originated from Air Force One, now flying at about 35,000 feet above the North Pacific. The President had departed from the Hawaiian island of Maui about an hour previously, and was destined for Palm Beach, Florida.

The Boeing 747 that functioned as the airborne office of the President of the United States technically had unlimited range, given its ability to be refueled in flight, but that risky procedure wasn’t necessary today. This flight of approximately 4,800 miles was well within the normal range of the aircraft.

The telephone connection was crystal clear. Despite the great distance between them, Sprague could tell that the President was both tired and extremely agitated. The speech to the AFL-CIO delegates had been considered to be a “friendly” venue for the President. The AFL-CIO, as had all labor unions, had staunchly supported the candidacy of Helen Hart.

The unions had won medical benefits for their members generations ago, so UHC couldn’t be viewed as a means of expanding union benefits. Organized labor wasn’t opposed to UHC as a general principle, however it was looking for something in return for union support of the plan. Ideally, the unions were pressing for the government to include subsidies for company health plans in the legislation which extended coverage to the uninsured. Not surprisingly, since the government had yet to figure out how it was going to pay for coverage of the uninsured, it was unwilling to commit to additional spending on those who already had medical coverage.