Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Snowe Votes With Democrats, Senate Panel Passes Health Care Reform


In a major victory for Democrats, the Senate Finance Committee voted 14 to 9 to pass its version of health care reform Tuesday afternoon. All Democrats on the committee and Maine Republican Olympia Snowe voted in favor of the bill, while the remaining nine Republicans voted against it. In explaining her vote, Snowe said the bill "bolsters what works in the system," adding, "Is this bill all that I would want? Far from it. But when history calls, history calls."

Snowe's support for the bill marks the first committee-level Republican vote in favor of health care reform this year and gives a crucial edge to Democrats as they push forward on their plans to reform the health care system. With 60 votes in the Senate, Democrats can theoretically defeat a Republican filibuster on health care. But the frail health of Sen. Robert Byrd and the moderate impulses of several conservative Democrats have left Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid with no room for absence or dissent in his caucus.

The Maine senator's vote today gives Reid some hope he'll be able to maneuver in the event of either. News of a possible defection came Tuesday morning, when Sen. Joe Lieberman, the independent Democrat from Connecticut, said on "Imus in the Morning" that he will not vote for the Finance committee's bill in its current form.

The measure passed by the committee today would extend health insurance coverage to 29 million Americans by establishing a mandate requiring individuals to buy health care insurance and by providing subsidies to make coverage affordable. The legislation also prevents insurance companies from denying or dropping coverage based on illness, pre-existing conditions or coverage limits and creates non-profits "co-ops" as an alternative source to private companies for purchasing insurance.

To pay for the expanded coverage, the committee's measure charges hefty fees on insurance companies and levies penalties on large employers that do not cover their workers, as well as individuals who do not cover themselves. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would cost $830 billion over 10 years, and would cut the estimated growth in federal health care spending by $81 billion over the same period.

A mini-scandal erupted over the weekend when representatives for the insurance industry took aim at the bill after months of quietly working with Democrats to craft reform measures. The industry had been counting on the bill's tough individual mandate penalties to move millions of new customers onto their rolls, but when the committee reduced the penalties, and thus the likelihood those people would buy insurance, the industry released an 11th-hour report undercutting Democrats' statements that insurance premiums for most Americans will fall, not rise, as a result of reform.

The industry's last-minute maneuver heightened the drama during the hours before today's vote, as Democrats spoke out forcefully to defend their plan, while Republicans generally argued that the bill will only worsen an already broken system.

The committee's chairman, Max Baucus (D-Mont.), began the session by touting the bill's expansion of coverage and its overall potential to reduce the federal deficit by slowing the growth of health care spending. "Ours is a balanced plan that can pass the Senate," Baucus said. "Our bill should win the support of Republicans and Democrats alike."

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.), once considered a possible no vote, said the measure is not perfect, but it "builds on what works in health care, makes it better, and also works to create greater efficiencies."

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) called for the full Senate to add the public option, but said the committee bill "goes a long way in the right direction." Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) also advocated for a public option and blasted the insurance industry for its last-minute attacks. "The misleading and harmful claims are . . . politicking for corporate gain at its worst," he said.

Although Republicans senators had kind words for Chairman Baucus, most harshly criticized the measure itself. The top Republican on the committee, Charles Grassley of Iowa, called the bill "a slippery slope to more and more government control of health care," while Sen. Orin Hatch (R-Utah) said it is "another example of Washington talking from both sides of its mouth."

Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) said the bill will take money from Medicare and "leave doctors on the hook," and Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) complained that even with 29 million more Americans covered by the bill, 25 million more will remain uninsured. Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) described the bill as so deeply flawed, it is "something like riding your pickup over a whole tangle of barbed wire."

During a question-and-answer session before the vote, senators peppered the directors of the Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation with questions about the costs and effects of specific portions of the bill. Neither representative could predict the bill's effect on individual health insurance premiums, while both said planned tax increases on insurance companies and medical device makers would likely affect consumers' cost of care. "We did assume there would be an effect on prices," said Thomas Barthold, the chief of staff for the tax committee.

With today's vote complete, further decisions about the details of reform will be made at two junctures in the future. First, top Democrats, including Sens. Baucus, Harry Reid and Chris Dodd, will huddle behind closed doors with senior White House staff to combine the two bills that have been passed by Senate committees.

After a debate and vote in the full House and Senate, a conference committee between leaders of the two chambers will take up the difficult matter of consolidating the two versions of the bill, which now have vast areas of significant difference. Though House members have passed measures with a public option, an income tax on top-bracket earners and a significant mandate on businesses to cover their employees, the Senate will likely come to the table with a weak public option or co-op, no employer mandate and no income tax increases.

As Snowe discussed her decision-making process, she urged her Republican colleagues "to resist the temptation to retreat into partisanship," but warned Democrats that her vote should be interpreted only as an effort to move forward, not as a final approval of health care reform, saying, "My vote today does not forecast what my vote will be tomorrow."

Snowe said she would watch carefully as Democrats meld the competing versions of the bill and would not vote for a final measure that does not hold up under budgetary scrutiny by the CBO. In closing, she quoted fellow Mainer Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, saying, "Great is the art of the beginning, but greater is the art of the ending."

source politicsdaily.com

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