Healthcare archive information
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On July 2 the Senate Committee Health, Education, Labour and Pensions released its latest version of health care reform legislation.
Update On October 13 the Finance Committee passed out its bill S1796 by a vote of 14 -9. Senator Olympia Snowe was the only Republican member of the Finance Committee to vote in favor. Senator Max Baucus (Democrat Montana), Chair of the Finance Committee, maitains a site devoted to Health Care reform from which you can gain access to the Finance Committee's Hearings on Healthcare.
t is important to remember that these Senate bills will be changed significantly as the proponents of different versions debate and negotiate on detailed issues over the coming weeks. Key players in these negotiations will be Senate Majority Harry Reid and senior Democratic Senators Max Baucus, Christopher Dodd and Tom Harkin (both HELP comittee) and Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff.
There are a wide range of issues and varying details at stake in the different proposals. One issue that has prominence in debates is that of the 'public option.' The House bill and the HELP bill include versions of a public option, but the Finance Committee bill does not. Previously under debate was the idea of a 'trigger' - a plan that would allow a public plan to kick in if private insurers don’t expand coverage fast enough. This has been championed by Olympia Snowe (R- ME) and supported by some Democrats. Another is the idea proposed by Senator Schumer (D-NY) and now often floated by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for the creation of a national public plan but with provision for states to “opt-out.” Read what Schumer said on Meet the Press on October 25. Watch this space! New
In addition, the idea of 'cooperatives' had some support over the summer. Senator Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), a pivotal lawmaker in the health-care debate, wants to deliver coverage to the uninsured by starting up new cooperatives modeled on rural electric cooperatives that were founded during the Great Depression. Read the August 27.New York Times article Cooperatives Record Weighed in Health-Care Debate by Mufson. This proposal now has less prominence than it did in the summer, but could come into play.
Senator Bernie Sanders (Independent, Vermont) has also introduced the American Health Security Act, S. 703, on March 25, 2009, which provides for a state-administered, single-payer program; however there are no co-sponsors.