Senate Leaders Press Baucus to Reconsider Health-benefits Tax
The Montana Democrat was called to Majority Leader Harry Reids office yesterday and told to consider alternatives to the tax, which is central to Baucuss efforts to pay for a $1 trillion overhaul of the health-care system, said an aide close to the negotiations who asked not to be identified.
Some Democrats at the meeting also voiced misgivings that Baucus is working too hard to attract Republican support in a bid to forge bipartisan legislation that can meet President Barack Obamas goal of lowering health costs and providing coverage to 46 million uninsured Americans, the aide said. Party leaders told him he needs to push more for a new public insurance program to compete against private insurers, a plan opposed by most Republicans, the aide said.
“We really need more help from the Republicans,” Reid, whose party controls both houses of Congress, told reporters later after a meeting of Senate Democrats. “But we cant allow the status quo to be the order of the day. So were going to work as we have all year long, Democrats to stay together.”
Emanuel Meets Lawmakers
The Obama administration may also be pushing harder for legislation that more Democrats will support. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel met last night with House Democrats in the Capitol, telling the lawmakers that Obama supports a public insurance program, according to several who attended.
House Democrats are seeking a new Medicare-like government program that Republicans say will drive many private insurers out of business. Baucus has been weighing non-profit co- operatives to offer competition to insurers as part of a bipartisan compromise.
Emanuel “made clear” a public option is the approach Obama prefers, said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat.
“The president is with us, and were with the president and we hope the Senate is with us all,” Rangel said.
The meeting in Reids office underscores divisions in the Senate. Another aide close to the negotiations said Baucus laid out his plan to get to 60 Senate votes and talked about progress toward a deal Republicans could agree to.
Later in the day, Senator Kent Conrad, a North Dakota Democrat and member of the Finance Committee, told reporters some lawmakers believe taxing employer-provided health benefits will be too hard to sell to the public.
Public Opposed
Conrad said opinion polls taken last week found that the tax plan was opposed by as many as 70 percent of respondents.
“Given input from the polling, given input from our colleagues, I think youd expect any prudent person would go, OK, what are our other options,” he said. “Thats what were doing.”
Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Finance Committee, confirmed that the panel was considering alternatives yet said he favors imposing the tax because it would help limit health-care cost inflation by depressing demand for expensive plans.
Eliminating the tax proposal would create “a great big hole” in efforts to cut costs, Grassley said.
Tax-Code Changes
Conrad didnt provide details about other tax options under consideration. He said they include taxes on the health-care industry and broader changes to the tax code.
Baucus has said a cap on the exclusion would probably be included in his panels legislation. The leading option being considered would tax benefits that exceed 110 percent of the plan offered to federal employees, which amounts to benefits above $17,240 for a family of four.