Senate Has Miles to Go On Health Care After Committee Vote
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid now has to meld the $829 billion legislation with a measure passed by the Senate health committee in July. While both proposals aim to curb medical costs and cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans, their different paths to the goal have divided Democrats and unsettled some of the partys main supporters.
Lawmakers are grappling with a host of issues — whether to create a government-run insurance program, whether to require that employers cover workers and how to pay for all the changes. Even as Democrats stuck together in yesterdays 14-9 panel vote and won the support of Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, they hardened their stances.
“The bill before us still falls short of what people need and what people expect,” said Senator Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat who supports a government insurance entity, or public option, to compete with private insurers such as Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.
The public option is a fault line, with a majority of House Democrats and senators including Rockefeller and New Yorks Chuck Schumer lined up on one side and Democrats from Republican-leaning states, such as Senators Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Kent Conrad of North Dakota, on the other.
Schumer yesterday said the option must be in final legislation, after the finance committee voted against it. Conrad said at least one version of the plan is a “nonstarter” because his states hospitals would go bankrupt.
Unions Weigh In
The United Auto Workers and 26 other unions will publish a newspaper advertisement today saying labor will oppose the legislation unless lawmakers include a public option, among other changes, before a vote by the full Senate.
House Democrats and Senate Democrats led by John Kerry of Massachusetts, are lining up to support another proposal that Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus knocked down: a requirement that employers cover workers.
While Reid tries to navigate the conflicting demands from his party, he may not have much room to change the finance panel proposal. Lincoln warned that her support wouldnt extend to a final bill that “strays too far.” And Snowe was measured in backing the legislation, President Barack Obamas top domestic priority.
“There are many miles to go in this legislative journey,” Snowe said. “My vote today is my vote today. It doesnt forecast what my vote will be tomorrow.”
60 Votes
Reid, a Nevada Democrat, will face a similar challenge if his chamber passes the legislation: working with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to craft a compromise.
“Every step in this process you see the degree of difficulty notched up,” said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor at the Cook Political Report in Washington.
Like measures passed by other committees, the Senate finance proposal requires that Americans get insurance, creating purchasing exchanges and tax credits to help. Instead of a public option, it offers $6 billion in seed money for nonprofit insurance cooperatives.
Tug-of-War
The Senate health committee left the work of paying for the legislation to the finance panel, which opted for $13 billion in annual fees on health-care industries as well as a tax on insurers that offer the most generous benefit plans, which the Congressional Budget Office says would raise $201 billion over 10 years.
Democrats expressed concern that the tax on so-called Cadillac plans would affect people such as coal miners who need high-end benefits because of dangerous work. The House plan instead imposes surtaxes on the wealthiest Americans, and leaders are considering levies on insurers profits.
“We see a five-party tug-of-war” among labor unions, senior citizens, lawmakers, employers and health industries, said Anne Kim, economic program director for Third Way, a Washington research institution. “The right compromise is going to be one that requires each of these groups to hurt just a little.”