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Tony Ondrusek is founder and publisher of Insurance & Financial Advisor and IFAwebnews.com.

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During his State of the Union speech, President Obama seemed to give little ground on his push for health care reform. And not a piecemeal approach, as I had predicted days ago that he might suggest.

His direct quote: “I want everyone to take another look at the plan we’ve proposed.”

During the planning, crafting and passage of the House and Senate bills (of which the Senate bill could still be passed by the House if it uses the “nuclear” reconciliation option), there was no bipartisan negotiations, no bipartisan input, no bipartisan compromises. It was done strictly behind closed doors and with absolutely no public scrutiny, despite the president assuring Americans eight times during his campaign that negotiations would be “transparent. (e.g. the “broadcast all the negotiations on C-span” promises)

Mr. Obama still does not want to begin compromise with Republicans, and craft legislation from the bottom up. Instead, he issued a direct challenge that if anyone else in Washington had a better way to bring down health insurance premiums and cover the uninsured, “let me know.”

In fact, President Obama’s entire agenda during his speech seemed to be contrary to what many thought it should be, and even more troublesome, at least according to the New York Times.