Baucuss Health Policy May Shape Senate Bill Even After Attacks
After months of fruitless efforts to find a bipartisan compromise, Baucus yesterday released a proposal to cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans and curb costs. Republicans balked at the $856 billion price tag and Democrats were unhappy he left out a government-run program to compete with private insurers. Unions denounced a tax on high-end insurance plans.
Still, buoyed by a Congressional Budget Office estimate that the plan would cut the federal deficit in 10 years, Baucus predicted passage through his panel with Republican votes. And while lawmakers in both houses of Congress vowed to challenge it, the measures introduction will be a boost for President Barack Obamas top priority, one White House ally said.
“The Baucus bill moves us closer to consensus,” said former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle, a Bloomberg Television contributor and Obama adviser. Daschle said the plan has “a lot of issues” yet offers “the opportunity to draw moderate Democratic support and perhaps even at the end of the day one or two Republicans.”
Baucuss proposal would require almost all Americans to have insurance or pay a penalty, expand Medicaid and provide subsidies to help millions of low-income people get coverage through an online exchange. In a bid for Republican support, he offered a lower price tag than plans approved on party-line votes by the Senate health committee and three House panels, each of which would cost about $1 trillion over 10 years.
Last of Five
The finance committee is the last of five congressional panels to produce legislation to extend insurance coverage and curb health-care costs, which account for a sixth of the economy. The plans would mark the most sweeping changes in the nations medical system in more than four decades.
“No one will be happy with this compromise, but everyone needs a compromise,” said Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
To pay for his plan, Baucus seeks savings in programs such as Medicare, the federal insurance plan for the elderly, and new taxes, which may prove politically unpopular. Hes proposing a levy on costly “Cadillac” health plans and about $13 billion in fees on insurers, medical-device manufacturers, drugmakers and clinical laboratories.
No Public Option
Baucus dropped a mandate, backed by many Democrats, that all employers offer health coverage or pay a penalty. Under his plan, companies with more than 50 full-time workers that dont offer insurance would pay a fee for every lower-income employee who qualifies for a new tax credit to obtain care. The maximum penalty would be $400 per worker.
“This is a balanced bill,” Baucus said at a news conference. “It can pass the Senate.”
Insurer stocks rose on the news, with the Standard & Poors 13-member index of managed-care companies up 3.9 percent.
Democratic senators including Russell Feingold of Wisconsin, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia and Roland Burris of Illinois objected, saying the public option was the best way to lower costs. Union heads decried the plan, and House Democrats said their chamber wouldnt accept the omission.
Seeking a Unicorn
“Any health-care proposal that does not have the competition and cost containment that could only be achieved with the public option will be considered dead on arrival,” New York Representative Anthony Weiner told reporters, adding that Baucus was wasting time trying to appease Republicans.
“Bipartisanship in health care is the political equivalent of a child looking for a unicorn,” Weiner said.
Baucus had tried to reach a compromise with Republican senators Charles Grassley of Iowa, Olympia Snowe of Maine and Mike Enzi of Wyoming, as well as Democrats Kent Conrad of North Dakota and Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico.
Grassley and Snowe yesterday said a number of issues need to be addressed to win their support, while Enzi said the proposal couldnt pass the Senate. “It spends too much and does too little,” he told reporters yesterday.