Rep. Mike Ross (D-Ark.), the lead Blue Dog Democrat on healthcare reform, called the compromise struck between the centrist group and House Democratic leaders a "significant breakthrough" on the bill.
This afternoon, it was reported that the two sides that have been sparring over the House bill had agreed to cut costs and delay a floor vote until after the August recess.
Significant breakthrough on health care-House leadership agrees to deal that reduces costs, saves rural hospitals, protects small businesses
Blue Dogs and Democratic leaders eliminated $100 billion from the bill and allowed states to form health insurance "co-ops" to compete with the government-run "public option" and private insurance companies.
Four out of the seven Blue Dogs on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which had been at an impasse on the bill, agreed to the compromise with chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)
Reps. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.), Baron Hill (D-Ind.) and Zack Space (D-Ohio) and Ross agreed to the deal while Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.), Charlie Melancon (D-La.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah) did not.
As a result of the compromise, two Republican committee members have indicated that markup on the bill will resume this afternoon.
The news irked one of the committee Republicans. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) tweeted:
Rumors are we return to healthcare markup at 4 PM. Rumors are still a public plan....sad. #healthbill
Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) was more certain that the committee would pick the bill back up, tweeting:
Markup on the Democratic health care plan is back on this afternoon in the Energy and Commerce Committee #fb
President Barack Obama's official Twitter account tweeted that opponents of healthcare reform legislation are 'playing politics with our lives' this afternoon.
While some politicians (including the White House account, @whitehouse) tweet more than once a day, Obama's account has only tweeted 11 times this month.
The Obama administration has been aggressively enouraging Congress to pass legislation by the August recess and now they have taken their efforts to Twitter:
Health care reform opponents scale up attacks, playing politics w/ our lives & livelihood. Fight back: http://bit.ly/1bciXx
The tweet contains a link to an Organizing for America website that features a video of President Obama countering detractors of the health bill and an online petition form supporting the reform package.
Obama appeared at a Rose Garden news conference this afternoon to tout the healthcare reform legislation and is holding a primetime news conference on the topic at 8pm on Wednesday.
The White House released a strong statement today backing the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee's healthcare reform bill. President Obama touted new Congressional Budget Office estimates that scored the legislation at a much lower cost to taxpayers than previously thought.
Obama said:
Today the Senate HELP committee has produced legislation that lowers costs, protects choice of doctors and plans and assures quality and affordable health care for Americans.
The Congressional Budget Office has now issued a more complete review of this bill, concluding that it will cost less and cover more Americans than originally estimated.
The CBO now estimates the bill will cost $611 billion as opposed to $1 trillion.
Obama also noted that the HELP committee version contains a public option, saying "The public option would make health care affordable by increasing competition, providing more choices and keeping the insurance companies honest." The president echoed remarks he made at yesterday's healthcare town hall meeting in Annandale, VA.
Two senior senators, Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), head the HELP committee. Dodd's office released a statement lauding the new CBO estimates today.
President Obama's release suggests that the HELP version will be merged with the Senate Finance Committee's version of the reform bill. The Finance Committee, however, has yet to issue a statement on the new legislation. Members of the committee chaired by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) had previously balked at the CBO's original cost estimate.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), a key player in healthcare negotiations, laid down the gauntlet on Tuesday, saying there won't be a bipartisan healthcare reform bill that includes a public option.
In a thinly veiled swipe at Sen. Edward Kennedy's (D-Mass.) Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Grassley said on MSNBC that if reform is going to get bipartisan support "it is going to have to come out of the Finance Committee," of which he is the ranking member.
Asked what the criteria would be for bipartisan support Grassley said: "We need to make sure there is no public option."
The senator said that there could be a "co-op" but said that a pure public option or government run health program would have to stay out of the legislation.
A majority of Americans believe that the healthcare system needs fundamental changes or needs to be completely rebuilt and trust Democrats more than Republicans to deliver that change, according to a new poll.
The New York Times/CBS News poll, released Sunday, found that more than eight in 10 said the current system needs either "fundamental changes" or a complete overhaul. More, nearly three quarters of respondents said it is a very serious problem that many Americans do not have health insurance.
And respondents appeared to trust Democrats more than Republicans to reform the system. Nearly six in 10 said Democrats are more likely to improve the healthcare system. Just under two in 10 said the same of Republicans.
The poll also found that respondents are paying close attention to the debate over healthcare. Nearly three quarters said they have read or heard a lot or some about the current proposals.
There appears to be some support for a government run or public option healthcare program. Half said the government would do a better job providing medical coverage than private insurance companies.
Read more...
The Democrats' hopes to pass healthcare reform this year got a boost on Friday when drug manufacturers approved a measure that would produce billions in savings on drug purchases with government programs like Medicare if the Democrats can pass healthcare legislation.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) approved a measure on Friday that would provide $80 billion in price reductions on drugs in the next 10 years, the Washington Post reports.
The news comes as Democrats are struggling to come up with ways to pay for sweeping reforms. This week the Congressional Budget Office said the two leading Democratic proposals in the Senate would cost well over $1 trillion. That led Republicans to criticize such spending in a recession and Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (Mont.), the author of one of the Democratic proposals, to vow to cut billions from his bill.
The Post reports that PhRMA's measure would provide significant relief to seniors if the Democrats are able to pass healthcare legislation. In particular, it would help 3.4 million elderly and disabled Americans who pay the full price for drugs once they pass the $2,200 $2,700 threshold in expenses but before they hit the $5,100 $6,200 mark - otherwise known as the "doughnut hole."
PhRMA's measure would provide the drugs for those in the doughnut hole at half price.
UPDATE: President Obama issued a statement Saturday evening calling the agreement a "turning point in America's journey toward healthcare reform."
Obama said the so-called "doughnut hole," or seniors whose drugs are not covered by Medicare when they total between $2,700 and $6,200, is a "continuing injustice" that this agreement will end.
"This deal will provide significant relief from that burden for millions of American seniors," Obama said.
In a statement, PhRMA president and CEO Billy Tauzin and Chairman David Brennan also noted that the agreement means that medicine purchased in the coverage gap "would count toward the beneficiary's out-of-pocket costs, thus lowering their total out-of-pocket spending."
"PhRMA is committed to working with the Administration and Congress to help enact comprehensive health care reform this year," the PhRMA executives added.
In a statement, Baucus said the agreement would give Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the authority to create a new Medicare Prescription Drug Discount Program on July 1, 2010. That program would be administered by an independent third party.
"The Medicare prescription drug benefit we created helped address the problem of skyrocketing prescription drug prices for millions of seniors. Today, we helped fill the gap in coverage and finished the job," Baucus said. "This new coverage means affordable prices on prescription drugs when Medicare benefits don't cover the cost of prescriptions."
Obama also noted that he still plans to sign health care reform legislation into law in October.
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Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming), the ranking member of the HELP Committee, says he's optimistic about the possibility of bipartisan healthcare reform, according to the AP.
The article doesn't directly quote Enzi, but I'll trust this characterization:
Sen. Mike Enzi said he's still optimistic about the possibility of a bipartisan health care bill--even as he accused Democrats of not involving Republicans in the legislation.
Enzi has said that Democrats are "locking Republicans out of the process."
[snip]
But Enzi likes an idea proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., to set up nonprofit cooperatives that would enable groups to put together their own health care plans.
The HELP Committee will share jurisdiction over healthcare with the Finance Committee, making Enzi one of the two most important Senate Republicans on the issue (along with Chuck Grassley, RM of Finance.)
The co-op idea is gaining momentum with centrists as a politically palatable alternative to a public option (or "government run healthcare," if you prefer.) The administration still wants a public plan, so the test is how hard they can push for it without falling below 50 votes.
The RNC is seizing on Americans' disgust with bureaucracy and red tape to take a shot at President Obama's "government run healthcare" plan.
A new web released by the committee video shows a telephone display screen with a vital sign graphic across it.
An automated operator answers:
"You have reached the United States federal government healthcare plan. You're approximate hold time is 35 hrs, and 26 min. The next available surgical appointment is August 14, 2011. If you'd like to be assigned a government-approved doctor at random, please press 1."
And so on and so forth.
Democrats, of course, refer to it as the "public option," but the RNC is attempting to re-brand the concept with the federal government's imprimatur.
Obama and Democrats have tried to ward off this kind of attacks by emphasizing that the public plan is optional. Whenever Obama speaks publicly about healthcare, he repeats that Americans who are happy with their current plan can stay put.
President Obama pitched his healthcare reform package to the American Medical Association (AMA) today, telling the physicians in the audience that healthcare reform will make their job simpler and more fruitful.
The AMA opposes a "public option," a key component of Obama's proposal, and has helped torpedo past efforts to reform and expand healthcare.
But Obama told the assembled doctors that he would work to quell their doubts.
"I know there's some concern about a public option," Obama said, citing fears that a public plan would replicate what doctors dislike about Medicare. "These are legitimate concerns, but ones, I believe, that can be overcome."
Departing from his prepared remarks, the President added: "A public option is not your enemy, it's your friend."
The president emphasized that healthcare reform would streamline bureaucracy and let doctors concentrate on treating patients.
"You did not enter this profession to be bean-counters and paper-pushers," Obama said. "You entered this profession to be healers--and that's what our health care system should let you be."
Obama made only a passing reference to medical malpractice reform, one of AMA's signature issues.
The NY Times reported this morning that the administration might use malpractice reform as a "barganing chip" to gain physicians' approval for healthcare legislation. But in his address today, the president was vague.
"[W]hile I'm not advocating caps on malpractice awards which I believe can be unfair to people who've been wrongfully harmed, I do think we need to explore a range of ideas about how to put patient safety first, let doctors focus on practicing medicine, and encourage broader use of evidence-based guidelines," the president said.
More broadly, the President framed healthcare reform as a necessary step to economic recovery.
As a "ticking time bomb for the federal budget," healthcare costs threaten to create unsustainable deficits.
Obama tied healthcare costs to the downfall of the American auto industry, arguing that the nation as a whole might suffer a similar fate if legislators fail to take action soon.
"A big part of what led General Motors and Chrysler into trouble in recent decades were the huge costs they racked up providing health care for their workers," Obama said, adding that " if we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM; paying more, getting less, and going broke."
Obama said the downpayment on reform would come from revenue increases--including limiting tax deductions for wealthy Americans--and cutting costs. Those cost reductions would come from three sources, the President said: (1) reducing inefficiencies in Medicare; (2) preventing hospital readmissions by Medicare patients; and (3) more generic drugs.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee will begin marking up healthcare legisglation this week. Congressional Democrats hope to have a bill on Obama's desk by early October.
Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) predicted health care legislation will pass this year, but will most likely do so with little or no help from the Republicans.
"My judgment is that it is going to pass and going to happen this year," Specter said about of health care legislation at a conference Friday morning.
Specter is a long time champion of care heath care issues and has had two public battles with cancer.
Specter when asked seemed pessimistic about the prospects of a bipartisan consensus emerging on the question of health care.
"A bipartisan approach that is highly speculative," he said. "Bipartisan has not been exactly been noteworthy in the Congress of the United States recently."
He noted that Sens. Enzi (R-Wy.) and Grassley (R-Iowa) have appeared open to working with democrats, but in the same breath criticized house republicans for the hard-line voting style.
Specter said critical of his formal colleagues said, "Republicans were of one mind" when they decided to uniformly reject the Democratic-back stimulus bill.
Specter who recently joined the Democratic may represent the critical 60th vote Democrats needed for cloture in the Senate to move the health care legislation through.
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