July 7th, 2009

The latest on national healthcare reform is that Senate Dems are still trying to find ways to make their healthcare bill cost less money, and get it passed by August; hospitals and the White House have reached on agreement on how much cuts the hospitals can withstand; and all Dems are trying to placate liberals and unions.

Reports Kaiser Network News:

On Senate Dems’ cost-saving efforts and August timeline:

““Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) declined Monday evening to predict when his committee would begin marking up its health care reform bill, although he appeared to virtually guarantee legislation would hit the floor before the August recess. … Baucus remains optimistic that a bipartisan deal is achievable, saying Senators ‘want to get to yes’… Meanwhile, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled on Tuesday to continue the markup of its health care reform bill. The process in the Senate calls for the Finance and HELP bills to be merged into one vehicle for floor consideration” (Drucker, 7/6).

A popular President Obama could help fill in the gaps Democrats leave behind, Roll Call reports in a separate story: “Republicans agreed that a hard sell from Obama would be difficult to compete with during August, but cautioned that Democrats still have to actually come up with something that is salable” (Pierce, 7/7).”

 On hospitals’ accord with the White House on cuts to pay for reform:

“Major hospital groups reached an agreement Monday with the White House and Senate Democrats to accept $155 billion in payment cuts over ten years, a concession that would help pay for proposed health care reforms, the Washington Post reports. Government savings would come mainly from lower Medicare and Medicaid payments to the hospitals, and smaller subsidies for providing care to the uninsured. Hospitals expect to make up some of the losses by increasing their volume as anticipated reforms bring health insurance to many of the 47 million Americans who don’t have coverage.”

On Dems receiving and trying to counter opposition from some unions and groups of liberals:

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“Unionized workers have fought to preserve their relatively expensive health plans through contract talks, sometimes at the expense of wage increases,” CQ Politics reports. “Now, with some unions airing televised ads targeting senators who support the idea of counting some health benefits as taxable income, pressure is increasing on Capitol Hill to look elsewhere to offset the cost of a health care overhaul.”

…

As Democrats navigate opposition to changes that could cost taxpayers – even from members of their own political sector such as the unions – one centrist think-tank, Third Way, is urging the administration to sharpen its appeal by ditching “defensive arguments implying that health care reform will cost middle-class Americans, not help them,” Politico reports. A memo circulated Monday said Democrats need to explain more emotionally what workers, who will pay for reform through taxes or spending cuts, will be getting in return. “Simply maintaining that Americans will be allowed to keep their own doctors or their current coverage if they like it is not a meaningful offer,” the memo says (Brown, 7/7).