Galesburgers for Health Care Reform Regular people working to make a reform a reality…

By Ceci Con­nolly of the Wash­ington Post

Fresh off his trip to Iraq, Vice Pres­i­dent Biden will wade deep into the health-care debate next week, according to admin­is­tra­tion sources.

Biden is slated to give his “first major health policy address” Tuesday to the National Asso­ci­a­tion of Insur­ance Com­mis­sioners and on Wednesday visits the Leisure World retire­ment com­mu­nity in Silver Spring.

On the sub­ject of Obama and health reform, seniors have been the most skep­tical age group in the nation. That’s a major con­cern for the White House because retirees vote in large num­bers, par­tic­u­larly in mid-term elec­tions. Biden, who will be joined at Leisure World by Health and Human Ser­vices Sec­re­tary Kath­leen Sebe­lius and White House health czar Nancy-Ann DeParle, plans to “talk directly to seniors about how changes in Medicare will not affect them med­ically and will in fact, strengthen the system,” said an aide who was not autho­rized to be quoted.

Biden’s higher pro­file also will also come during a week in which Pres­i­dent Obama will turn his focus to for­eign policy.

Per­haps more impor­tantly, Biden will be reaching out to an array of law­makers to press the case for bipar­tisan enact­ment of a bill that expands insur­ance cov­erage and holds down sky­rock­eting costs. After spending 36 years in the Senate, Biden’s role will be less as a health policy expert and more as a peer.

“Health care has not been a sig­na­ture issue for him. The exper­tise he brings to bear are his rela­tion­ships in the Senate,” said one staffer. “He is some­body who can have really candid con­ver­sa­tions with mem­bers about what they need. He has their trust and if he says, ‘We’ll push this for you,’ they can take his word to the bank.”

In addi­tion to fellow Democ­rats, Biden plans to court Repub­li­cans in the admin­is­tra­tion hunt for health care votes. Just as he did during debate on the eco­nomic recovery package, his list of tar­gets will include the two GOP sen­a­tors from Maine, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, as well as Repub­li­cans George Voinovich of Ohio and Richard Lugar of Indiana.

Don’t forget, Biden fans are quick to note, it wasn’t long after those stim­ulus package nego­ti­a­tions that Penn­syl­vania Sen. Arlen Specter switched par­ties from Repub­lican to Democrat.