Liberal House Democrats are threatening to kill any plan that
doesn't include a government-run public option,
Roll Call reports, quoting Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.: "'No
one in this building wants health care reform as much as we do. However, if
reform legislation comes to the floor, and it does not include a real and robust
public option that lives up to our criteria, then we will fight it with
everything that we have,' she said."
Roll Call continues: "The
draft House bill presented last week includes such a public option, which is
supported by Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Obama, but it faces resistance
from fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats and a rocky road in the
Senate. Woolsey spoke at a Wednesday joint press conference featuring
the Progressive Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional
Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus" (Dennis,
6/25).
The press conference message reflected more than 120
members of Congress,
CQ Politics reports: "The four caucuses represent some of the
most liberal members of Congress; in the House, many of their members have
signed onto bills that would create a nationalized, single-payer health system
by expanding Medicare to cover everyone. Those lawmakers consider the creation
of a government-run plan to compete with private insurers a compromise" (6/24).
Meanwhile, House Democrats are "pleased with" how the White
House is handling Republican criticism of reform,
Roll Call reports in a separate story, while adding: "But some
Congressional Democrats regarded as anemic and even gimmicky earlier White House
efforts to display deficit restraint, pointing to moves like the early May
announcement that $17 billion in savings would be achieved by cutting programs.
Republicans quickly pointed out that the figure was a drop in the bucket and
waged a PR offensive to get the initiative laughed out of town. But Democrats
are gratified by Obamafs relentless focus on using health reform to reduce costs
and on paying for any public insurance option with cuts in other areas and tax
increases" (Koffler, 6/25).
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said
Wednesday while testifying before the House Energy and Commerce
Committee that a government-run public option would increase choice and
competition,
The Associated Press/USA Today reports: "Argued Sebelius: 'If
there is no choice in the market, cost regulation is almost irrelevant. It's a
marketplace strategy that competition is often more effective than heavy-handed
regulation'" (6/24).
Other House Democrats are considering a maneuver to
raise Medicare payment rates to doctors which would slim the pricetag of
reform by $285 billion, and hope to attract the support from the American
Medical Association in return,
The Hill reports: "On its own, the permanent fix would add
hundreds of billions of dollars of new spending to the bill, which is expected
to exceed $1 trillion. But House Democrats are eyeing budgetary maneuvers that
would erase the cost of the Medicare physician payment increases by making the
change but not having it be subject to pay-as-you-go budgeting rules that would
require the spending increase to be offset with tax hikes or other cuts c The
House Democratsf bill would 'rebase' the physician payment formula to assume
that Medicare spending over the next 10 years would include the new policy and
the hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending."
"That would
result in a CBO score of the healthcare reform bill significantly lower than one
using the old, lower baseline as a starting point, since the higher Medicare
payments would no longer be included in the cost assumptions" though the plan
would not be deficit-neutral (Young, 6/24).