JANUARY 22, 2010
This Week in Health Care Reform
After months of accessible agitation and clandestine negotiations, bloom affliction ameliorate discussions adjourned afterward Tuesday’s Senate vote in Massachusetts. The Democratic Senate absent its 60th vote supermajority if Republican Scott Brown was adopted to the United States Senate in the Massachusetts appropriate election.
Health Care Reform Negotiations Post-Massachusetts Special Election
Massachusetts Election of Senate Republican Recasts Debate: Following the acclamation of Republican Scott Brown to the Massachusetts Senate bench Tuesday night, Democratic leaders accept been scrambling to animate what could now be a dying bill. The accident of the Democrat’s 60th vote in the Senate opens up the legislation to a Republican delay – something the Democrats accept managed to abstain appropriately far in the debate.
House and Senate Democrats met this anniversary to altercate how to move advanced with the ameliorate legislation in ablaze of this acclamation and promised Wednesday that they would advance ahead. There are a bulk of options that Democrats are considering, but at this point they accept not charted their course.
On Wednesday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) attempted to assemblage House Democrats about a action to advance the Senate bill through the House and assimilate President Barack Obama’s board so as to abstain the charge to afresh defended 60 Senate votes. However, the Speaker adumbrated on Thursday morning that she did not accept she has the bare 218 House votes all-important to move forward. This advantage would accept accustomed lawmakersto afresh adduce added modifications to the accustomed legislation through a action alleged “reconciliation,” which alone requires 51 votes in the Senate.
Other actual options:
1.
House and Senate Democrats could aswell bound complete the amalgamation of the two bills and vote on the accumulated amalgamation afore Mr. Brown is affidavit in.
2.
Democratic leaders could attack to re-engage Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME), the alone Republican who voted for the Senate Finance Committee’s bill anesthetized in October. Democrats would charge to acquiesce her to alter the bill so that she could abutment its access and accord Democrats the bare 60th vote; or,
3. House and Senate Democrats could about alpha over in their corresponding accommodation and adduce scaled-back versions of the bill beneath “reconciliation” procedures or accustomed order. Reconciliation procedures would abundantly absolute the ambit of the legislation to issues alone accompanying to adopting or spending federal funds; therefore, abounding provisions, such as creating new allowance exchanges and an alone mandate, ability be excluded.
President Obama seemed to announce that he favors accepting House and Senate assembly alpha over afresh and aftermath a scaled-back bill. In addition, added abstinent Senate Democrats – afraid to advance through such a huge accessory bill in ablaze of the Massachusetts acclamation – apprenticed leaders to apathetic down.
Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA) has alleged on Senate leaders to append voting on bloom affliction ameliorate until Mr. Brown is affidavit into office. President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) accept common this aforementioned message. Further, Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) alleged for a bipartisan accomplishment as the best way to accomplish bloom affliction ameliorate legislation.
Health Care Reform Negotiations Prior to Massachusetts Special Election
Senators Urge Guarantee of Government Savings: In a letter beatific endure Thursday to Sen. Reid, 5 Democratic Senators asked for the admittance of a “fail-safe mechanism” in the final bill. This apparatus would accord Congress “the accoutrement to accumulate costs beneath ascendancy should the accepted accumulation estimates abort to materialize.”
Both the Senate and House versions of the bill await heavily on reductions in government spending, decidedly about Medicare, to advice pay for reform. Republicans and some detached analysts accept the government will not chase through on these spending reductions, which will advance to aerial costs.
President Obama Pushes for Less Protection for Biologic Drugs: Last Thursday President Obama pushed for a change in the bloom affliction ameliorate legislation that would abate the bulk of years that biologic drugs were apparent adequate from all-encompassing competition, ahead set at 12 years. White House admiral and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) were negotiating for 10 years aegis or less.
Members of the account media speculated that the move to abate biologic biologic protections could be a advantage point for President Obama to burden the biologic industry to access contributions to pay for bloom affliction reform. In fact, the Wall Street Journal appear that Congressional Democrats had already asked biologic companies to accord an added $10 billion or more, over and aloft the $80 billion which the industry agreed to aboriginal on in the ameliorate negotiations.
President Obama Strikes Deal with Unions: Last anniversary Democratic negotiators addled a accord with abutment admiral and conceded to abutment demands to calibration aback a tax on high-end allowance plans. The accord would absolved abutment workers from accepting to pay the tax until 2018, 5 years afterwards the tax would administer to added workers. While the accord would advice accretion abutment abutment for the bill, it would aswell abate the bulk of tax acquirement generated by about 40 percent, to $90 billion. As such, Democratic leaders would charge to acquisition added sources of acquirement to accomplish up the difference.
Public Opinion
Exit Poll Indicates Health Care Reform as Hot Button Issue: As the acclamation acclamation bankrupt on Tuesday night’s Massachusetts Senate election, an avenue poll conducted by Frabrizio, McLaughlin & Associates adumbrated that 52 percent of voters said that they argue the federal bloom affliction ameliorate admeasurement and 42 percent said they casting their acclamation to advice stop President Obama from casual this legislation. In addition, 48 percent said that bloom affliction was the individual affair active their vote.
Polls Show Discontent: The latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll adumbrated that about bisected of Americans accept the bloom affliction ameliorate bill in Congress is a bad abstraction (46 percent). This amount is up badly from April if alone 26 percent believed the plan was a bad idea. Further, just 33 percent say the plan is a acceptable idea. Nearly bisected of those surveyed (48 percent) accept that casual the accepted legislation would be a “step backward.”
In addition, a new Quinnipiac University poll showed that accessible abutment for bloom affliction ameliorate continues to decline. Thirty-four percent mostly approve, while 54 percent mostly disapprove. At the end of December, 53 percent of Americans mostly approved, while 36 mostly disapproved.
Looking Ahead
Currently, the aisle to bloom affliction ameliorate is unclear. Democrats seek a way to defended the all-important votes to canyon the legislation, and some now catechism the amount of blame such a ample bill. President Obama had hoped to see a final bill above-mentioned to his State of the Union address, which has been appointed for January 27; however, it appears this ambition is acceptable out of reach.
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