As expected, the Senate broke for August recess last week without the Finance Committee releasing a health care bill. The news today however is comments made by a Democratic leader that signals a possible concession to the Finance Committee and Senate Republicans on a controversial section of the leadership’s bill.
Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) on CNN’s State of the Union said he was willing to support health care legislation without a public plan. According to The Hill, Durbin said “I support the public option but yes, I am open” to voting for legislation without it. Currently, the Senate Finance Committee’s health care proposal does not contain a public plan and substitutes language creating privately-owned “cooperatives”.
While the Finance Committee’s bill is still under wraps, The Washington Post last week revealed additional details contained in the legislation. The revised bill lowered its cost by $100 billion while expanding Medicaid coverage and covering about 94% of Americans. It also includes, as a financing option, a tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans. The tax would be up to 35% on insurance companies that offer health insurance plans valued above $21,000 for families or $8,000 for individuals.
Despite reported progress, the six Senate Finance negotiators have yet to finalize the bill, leading even the negotiators to begin considering alternatives to their comprehensive plan. Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA) Tweeted yesterday that lawmakers should reconsider the so-called Wyden-Bennett health care bill. The “Healthy Americans Act” would require all Americans to be insured in a Health Americans Private Insurance (“HAPI”) plan, either through the state or an employer, and provide federal subsidies for lower-income Americans. The legislation has 14 bipartisan cosponsors, but was considered to this point a non-factor in the health care debate.
Quick Hits
Will the taxing of “Cadillac” plans lead to the same problems as the alternative minimum tax?… The White House creates a webpage to answer criticisms of health care proposals… USA Today finds that seniors are most resistant to changing the current health care system.
Senior conservative Republican Mike Enzi of Wy.is quoted as saying “I heard a lot of frustration and anger as I traveled across my home state this last few weeks,” said Enzi, who has been targeted by critics for seeking to negotiate on legislation.
He called for more competition among health insurers, for the ability of small businesses to band together across state lines to negotiate for lower-cost insurance plans, for tax breaks to help people buy insurance and for reducing malpractice lawsuits.
These cost containment proposals could be the necessary trade-offs for increased access for the currently uninsured. this can be accompolished withpout a government run program by using government backed co-ops operating with a credit union model rather than an agricultural co-op model.
Associations would be able to realize the potential of being a fulcrum for such programs. Bujt, only if supporters of increased access as a goal of reform do not allow the insurance industry’s PR professionals to hijack the discussion of healthcare reform.
In the 1990′s it was hijacked by organizing and exaggerating concern about cost to the consumer; this time its being hijacked by organizing and exaggerating concern about the cost of big government.
Leading experts in financial, political and business associations calculate that the U.S. is headed to second tier status among maturing economies if it does not control:[a] the escalating cost to insured consumers of its healthcare insurance system, and [b] the the escalating cost to government of caring for uninsured and untreated consumers in its healthcare delivery system.
In a for profit dynamic – one persons cost is another persons revenue. Nonprofits have a long history of being able providing a satisfactory quality of life, income and incentive to the folks employed and served by them. Free enterprise advocates should relish competition to an increasingly consolidating industry. Universal access advocatres should relish the opportunity to fund expanded access by reducing unnecessary costs driven by defensive medicine and reimbursement for procedures rather than care.
The problems are inter-related realities; not independent choices. Associations speaking with a unified voice on the issue of inter-dependence of these necessities could reframe currently irreconsibale positions and make the differnce in this debate.
I’m concerned that the failure to bridge this gap may condemn the 501c3 and 501c6 communities to an era of increased acrimony – with the IRS code and SOX like regulation serving as a surrogate battleground for both sides – depending on who has majority power at the moment.
From an asae member organization’s signiture on the assae exec section listserve – %0 years of success and not too much of a stretch to a healthcare insurance co-op.
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