Bennet: Dems likely to revisit health law

The Senate is likely to revisit the new healthcare measure that became law earlier this year, a member of the chamber's Health committee said Tuesday.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), a member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said he thought the majority Democrats would look at making changes to the bill President Obama signed into law in March.

"I think we will," Bennet said in an interview on NPR. "I think we didn't do enough the first time around on cost containment — there's more to be done there, on the Medicare incentive structure."

The Colorado senator won a tough reelection race last week in which he was targeted for his support of healthcare reform and other parts of the president's agenda. Like many of the Democrats who escaped defeat last Tuesday — like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) and Sen.-elect Joe Manchin (W.Va.) — Bennet called for revisiting a bill that weighed heavily on many of his party's candidates at the polls.

Bennet proposed an amendment he'd previously submitted that would require lawmakers to find other sources of revenue for the new health system if some of the savings in the legislation don't pan out as projected.

Democrats should also look for compromise on taxes and entitlement reform, Bennet said.

He proposed a one-year extension of all tax cuts, embracing a Republican proposal in part, and called for a "conversation" on Social Security, with a possible allusion to benefit cuts liberals have typically resisted.

"People that are my age, 45, know that if the system exists as it is today, there's not going to be anything left for us," he said. "I think it's a conversation that we can have with the American people. It's certainly a conversation I've had in town halls all over Colorado."