The Power of A

In a move the national media is decrying as the death of the public option, the Senate Finance Committee voted down two amendments yesterday that would have inserted language into the Chairman’s Mark creating and funding a public insurance plan run by the federal government.

The Chairman’s Mark currently has language funding the creation of nonprofit cooperative health care plans, an idea meant to entice Republican and moderate Democratic votes for the Finance Committee legislation.  Both amendments sought to replace the cooperative language with public option language.  The first amendment, offered by Senator Rockefeller (D-WV), would have created a public option with a reimbursement structure for the first two years that mirrored Medicare, after which the government would have negotiated reimbursement rates with providers.  The proposal, seen as the most liberal public option plan, was defeated 15-8 with opponents claiming the Medicare rates were too low for doctors and hospitals.

The second amendment was offered by Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY).  Like the Rockefeller amendment, the Schumer amendment would have created a public plan but have negotiated reimbursement rates with providers from its creation.  That amendment was defeated by a 13-10 vote, with all 10 Republican committee members voting against it with Senators Lincoln (D-AR), Conrad (D-ND), and Baucus (D-MT).  After considering those two amendments, the committee moved through a few more amendments (including approving a Republican amendment requiring members and staff to participate in a state-based exchange for insurance) before adjourning around 10 PM.  The markup will continue at 10 AM today, and is being broadcast over the internet at the committee website.

The 10^th Annual Summit Awards Dinner

A special thanks to those who attended and supported the 10^th Annual Summit Awards Dinner last night at the National Building Museum.  The dinner honors six incredible association programs (which you can see here) that exemplify the Power of A message of associations as pioneers of collaborative problem solving.  Please visit our site www.asaecenter.org/summitdinner in the upcoming weeks to view pictures of the event and find out more information about next year’s dinner.

Quick Hits

Roll Call (subscription) is reporting this morning that the White House is preparing a draft (or possibly multiple drafts) of health care legislation that can be introduced or use to influence the debate if Congress stalls on consideration of comprehensive legislation… America’s Health Insurance Plans, the trade association for the insurance industry, released an outline of how the Finance language would affect the insurance industry… Senator Carper (D-DE) is discussing with Democratic senators a state-based alternative to co-ops and the public plan… House leadership tries to trim the cost (subscription) of the Tri-Committee bill back to $900 billion.