I'm not sure what the point of it is.  Ostensibly, the point is for the two parties to get together on national television for six hours and hammer out some concrete proposals for reforming health care in this country.

Early reports indicate that the Republicans are coming to the table with "No. No. No. No. No. Let's scrap everything and start over" even though Obama's proposal contains about 80% of what Republicans have said they wanted in a health care reform bill.

But then again, maybe that's the point.  To show that only one side is willing to work on serious health care reform, and the other side is commited to its destruction and/or delay.  If that's the White House's "hidden agenda" of today's health care summit, it seems that Republicans are playing into that rather well.

RELATED:  A nice "viewer's guide" to the proceedings today is here (PDF format), for those with the stomach to watch them.

A more neutral PDF comparing the three plans (the House, the Senate, and Obama's) is here if you care to wade through it.