Deficit, Disclosure May Delay Senate Vote On Health-care Tactic
The Senate Finance Committee has yet to vote on its bill as it waits for the Congressional Budget Office to assess the cost. And a group of eight Democrats whose votes may be crucial to final passage urged that the public be given more time to read new drafts of the legislation.
Adding to the unease was the disclosure last night by a congressional panel that it underestimated the fees that drug companies, insurers and medical device makers would pay toward the overhaul. The industries would be assessed $29 billion more than first calculated, the Joint Committee on Taxation said.
“I want to wait until all the stuff is on the table” before deciding how to vote on the finance panel bill, Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, said yesterday afternoon. He said he needs to see the CBO analysis first.
These obstacles may thwart plans by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to start debate in the full Senate next week and get the final legislation to President Barack Obama before the Nov. 26 Thanksgiving holiday. Reid is already coping with friction among fellow Democrats over issues such as whether to create a government-run program to compete with private insurers.
Lawmakers are considering the biggest changes in the U.S. health-care system since the 1965 creation of Medicare, the government program for the elderly. They are trying to cover more of the 46 million uninsured people and rein in health-care costs that currently account for a sixth of the economy.
Last Committee
The finance panel, run by Montana Democrat Max Baucus, is the last of five congressional committees to deal with the legislation. Baucus has tried without success to get a bipartisan compromise before bringing his plan to the committee for debate, which ended Oct. 2.
Baucus said hes hopeful the CBO will deliver an estimate as early as today on a measure that was priced at less than $900 billion over 10 years before the panel made changes. He said the next steps depend on what the CBO finds.
If its a “clean bill of health,” the panels 13 Democrats and 10 Republicans may act quickly, Baucus said. “If its not deficit-neutral, its a little longer.”
Reid must then merge the finance panels measure with one passed by the health committee in July and bring the new version to the full Senate for debate.
Pressure From Democrats
The finance committee draft requires that Americans get insurance, provides subsidies to those in need, creates nonprofit cooperatives to offer an alternative to private insurance companies, and prohibits insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing medical conditions.
It doesnt include a government-insurance program, the centerpiece of the bill passed by the health committee. Obama supports the so-called public option, as do Democratic leaders in the House. Republicans oppose the idea, and Democratic senators from Republican-leaning states have been critical.
Fees on Industries
While many health industries have been supportive of reform, they were critical of yesterdays news that they would have to pay more to help finance the systems overhaul.
The Joint Committee on Taxation, a bipartisan panel of lawmakers, told Iowa Senator Charles Grassleys staff in a letter that it was revising estimates of the finance panels bill that failed to take into account that companies wouldnt be able to deduct the fees on their tax returns.
Industries would now face fees of $121 billion over the next decade, compared with an earlier estimate of $92 billion, according to the letter from Thomas Barthold, the joint committees chief of staff.
Grassley said in a statement that the companies “will just pass the cost of these new taxes onto consumers as higher insurance premiums and health-care costs.”