Senate Finance Committee Dropping Dem Health Goals: AP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/27/senate-group-dropping-dem_n_245839.html
by David Espo
WASHINGTON — After weeks of secretive talks, a bipartisan group in the Senate edged closer Monday to a health care compromise that omits two key Democratic priorities but incorporates provisions to slow the explosive rise in medical costs, officials said.
These officials said participants were on track to exclude a requirement many congressional Democrats seek for large businesses to offer coverage to their workers. Nor would there be a provision for a government insurance option, despite President Barack Obama’s support for such a plan.
The three Democrats and three Republicans from the Senate Finance Committee were considering a tax of as much as 35 percent on very high-cost insurance policies, part of an attempt to rein in rapid escalation of costs. Also likely to be included in any deal was creation of a commission charged with slowing the growth of Medicare through recommendations that would take effect automatically unless overturned by Congress.
“We’re going to get agreement here,” Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., the Finance Committee chairman, said Monday. “The group of six really wants to get to ‘yes.’”
Obama has outlined two broad goals for legislation he is struggling to win from Congress: expansion of health insurance coverage to millions who lack it, and reining in increases in costs.
Like bills drafted by Democrats, the proposal under discussion by the six Finance Committee members would bar insurance companies from denying coverage to any applicant. Nor could insurers charge higher premiums on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions.
But it jettisons other core Democratic provisions in a reach for bipartisanship on an issue that has so far produced little.
The effort received a boost during the day from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, normally a close ally of Republicans. In a letter to committee leaders, the business group called for the panel to “act promptly, preferably before” the Senate’s scheduled vacation at the end of next week. In doing so, the business organization dealt a blow to the Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and other GOP lawmakers who have called repeatedly for Democrats to slow down.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: I just wrote Senator Max Baucus the following email:
“I just read the AP story about your committee gutting healthcare reform.
If you are personally responsible for killing the public option, I will probably move to Montana to fight your re-election. I will get a few hundred others to do the same from around the nation.
Your positions blocking healthcare reform is costing thousands of Americans their lives. How can you sleep at night?
Sincerely,
Stephen Crockett
Host, Democratic Talk Radio”