Compromise Healthcare Reform Bill

November 18, 2009 — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) today unveiled a compromise healthcare reform bill that includes the controversial public option — a government-sponsored health plan — that would compete with private plans.

However, the public option is doubly optional — individual states can choose whether to make the government-sponsored plan available to their residents, according to a senior aide to Sen. Reid. The bill also calls for member-owned "co-op" health plans.

The legislation represents a blend of two bills, one crafted by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and the other by the Senate Finance Committee. The former committee's bill included the public option; the latter did not, but instead called for "co-op" plans.

The opt-out clause for the public option in the new Senate bill attempts to placate critics who say a government health plan would force private insurers out of business, leading to a federal takeover of healthcare. Public-option supporters contend that a government plan will merely make private insurers more competitive.

The Senate bill would cost $849 billion through 2019, but it would ultimately shave $127 billion off the federal deficit while reducing the number of uninsured by 31 million people, according to a senior Democratic leadership aide.

The bill bears the strong mark of Sen. Reid, who has sought the middle ground for the sake of winning 60 Senate votes. Sixty is the magic number needed to overcome any procedural hurdles mounted by opponents and pass a motion to proceed, which would bring the bill to the Senate floor for debate and a vote. Democrats hold 58 Senate seats; independents, two more.

"I have the responsibility of taking what the left wants and what the right wants and coming up with a package that is a moderate piece of legislation that will allow the American people to have a new structure that will control healthcare in this country," Sen. Reid said earlier this month.

A vote on a motion to proceed could come as early as tomorrow.

If passed, the Senate bill would have to be reconciled to a bill passed earlier this month by the House. The reconciled bill would then come before both chambers for a final vote.

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Authors and Disclosures
Author(s)
Robert Lowes
Freelance writer, St. Louis, Missouri

Disclosure: Robert L. Lowes has disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

Pelosi wins battle...looses war!

Democrat from California and House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi may have won a small and insignificant battle in the House of Representatives but I believe that the war for the health care reform bill (Obama Care?) will probably be either lost or significantly altered in the Senate so the Obama part of the bill will be at best only minimally present if at all. If the bill was so great why did 39 democratic representatives cross over and vote with the GOP? What did the President promise those democrats he lobbied to stay and vote for the bill as presented by the democrates...some nice "pork" for their districts? How much did it cost the American tax payers for those few votes needed. The bill only won by less than a handful of votes. This entire fiasco was for the benefit of Pres. Obama to show that he was not politically impotent; I wonder if it accomplished what it was supposed to do or just the opposite.

According to Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the bill is DOA (dead on arrival) in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has not yet scheduled floor debate on the bill. This bill may not even get settled one way or the other until next year. I am sure there will be a lot of spinning by all the talking heads on TV and the radio over the next several weeks but one thing that is certain is that the passing of this bill was NO mandate from the people.