White House: Health Care Financial Benefits Outweigh Costs

March 28, 2010— -- As a result of President Obama's health care reform law, "business will come out way ahead," President Obama's senior adviser Valerie Jarrett said this morning in an exclusive interview on "This Week."

Asked about recent news that a number of companies will have to write off significant sums of money as a result of the health care reform law, Jarrett told ABC News' Jake Tapper, "What they are going to have to write off is nothing compared to the enormous financial benefits to those very same companies by health insurance reform.

"It will bring down their costs substantially," she said. "On balance, business will come out way ahead."

Gov. Haley Barbour, R-Miss., vehemently disagreed on "This Week."

"We've now learned that big corporations are going to have to take $14 billion worth of write-offs ... that nobody knew about," he said.

"How many jobs are those $14 billion of losses on corporate balance sheets, how many jobs are they going to cost?" Barbour asked.

"We're going to learn a lot more about this deal ... [and as] people find out these sorts of things, this bill is going to become even more unpopular," Barbour said.

Jarrett Said Pressure on Iran Is Working

The White House strategy on Iran is working, Jarrett said. She insisted that "Iran will back down."

Asked about reports this morning that Iran is "is preparing to build" new nuclear facilities, Jarrett told Tapper that the administration would continue to use diplomatic tools to push Iran into compliance with United Nations resolutions.

"We are going to continue to put pressure on Iran," she said. "We're going to have a coalition that will really put pressure on Iran and will stop them from doing what they are trying to do."

Jarrett insisted that progress had been made since Obama took office.

"Over the last year, what we've seen when the president came into office, there was a unified Iran. Now we're seeing a lot of divisions within the country," she said. "And we're seeing steady progress in terms of a world coalition that will put that pressure on Iran."

Taking a Hard Look at Israel

Turning to another corner of the Middle East, Jarrett addressed mounting tension between the U.S. and Israel over Jewish settlements in Jerusalem. Obama held low-profile meetings with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, which some have labeled a "snub" since there was little media attention surrounding the meeting.

"I think what's important is that world leaders are able to sit down with one another, have frank conversations and move forward," Jarrett said.

The senior adviser said she didn't think there "was any doubt in the mind" of Netanyahu about President Obama's "commitment to Israel and its safety and how important that is for the United States and for the region."

Governors Battle on Health Reform Law

Gov. Barbour, R-Miss., and Gov. Ed Rendell, D-Pa., squared off on the constitutionality of President Obama's health care reform law this morning in an exclusive debate.

"I do not believe the United States government has a right, it has the authority or power to force us to purchase health insurance any more than, in the name of homeland security, they can force every American to have to buy a gun," Barbour said.

Barbour is pushing for his Democratic attorney general to sue the federal government over the health care law; Rendell insists that the suit his Republican attorney general has filed with a number of other states is silly.

"This is a frivolous lawsuit," Rendell said. "It's a waste of taxpayers' dollars at a time when all the states are fighting to preserve those dollars."

The health care law "is easily within the power of the federal government," Rendell insisted. "These lawsuits are frivolous."

Asked about a new Washington Post poll that shows that a majority of people oppose health care reform, Rendell, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, tackled the political implications of the law and said it bodes well for Democrats.

Rendell said that "as the months roll by," the health care reform law, "will actually help" Pennsylvania Democrats' chances in the November midterm elections.

"As more and more people get to understand what is in this bill, people are going to like it," he said. "Small business ... they're going to like the bill."

Does Media Offer 'Wet Kiss' to White House?

"So as all of these benefits roll on," Rendell said, "it's going to change public perception of the bill and of the president himself."

He said that while it would be a "tough year" for incumbents because of the economy, "losses in November would be a lot less than most of the prognosticators are foretelling."

Barbour was asked about a "generic ballot" question form The Washington Post poll showing Democrats leading in hypothetical matchups.

"Candidly," he said, "I am surprised that the numbers in The Washington Post weren't better. I mean since this thing passed last weekend, we have seen the longest wet kiss in political history given to the Obama administration by the liberal media elite."

"And every day that goes by," Barbour said to chuckles from Rendell and Tapper, "it gets sloppier."

"I don't know what channels Haley watches," Rendell laughed. "But that's a lousy wet kiss!"