Conrad concerned by parts of Senate health compromise

A main prong of the Senate's healthcare compromise is a cause for concern, a key centrist Democrat said Thursday.

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, expressed doubts about a new Senate proposal that would open up Medicare to uninsured Americans between the ages of 55 and 64.

Conrad praised part of the proposal, which would allow Americans to participate in a system similar to what's available to federal employees, but cautioned, "there is another part of it I'm much less certain of, and that is the notion of expanding Medicare to people from 55-64."

The Budget chairman said that while the Medicare proposal raises a lot of questions marks, he's waiting (along with other senators) for an analysis of the program by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

"We have not yet seen the CBO analysis of that, but I would be concerned the CBO analysis would show that would have an adverse affect on Medicare," he said. "But I'm interested in the evidence, what CBO will tell us. I think common sense would say you have to ask a lot of questions about that proposal."

Conrad, whose vote is among a group of Senate centrists needed to get 60 votes to pass health reform legislation, expressed concerns that the Medicare proposal would draw in sicker-than-average individuals into the program, only damaging the program.

"It could also create very high premiums for that group because they're not spreading the risk in a big pool," he said during an appearance on the Fox Business Network. "If you put more people into Medicare that were younger, healthier people, that would improve the pool...But what they're talking about is only opening it to people 55-64 that are only uninsured."

The latest proposal was crafted earlier this week in exchange for dropping the opt-out public option contained in the legislation, which centrist Democrats had been unwilling to support.

The element of the new compromise opening a new national plan administered by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), by contrast, was "intriguing" to Conrad.

"I think that offers significant hope, and would be a very interesting alternative, and as you look across the world, would be a model that has been successful in many other countries," he said.

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