But for all the talk of the details in Obama’s bill, it’s politics, not policy, that has been the biggest sticking point for Democrats of late. Since losing the Massachusetts Senate election, Democrats have struggled with finding a legislative path to move forward in the House and Senate. In the Senate, they are moving toward using reconciliation, a parliamentary maneuver that allows legislation to be passed with a simple majority. But Democrats remain skittish about using that tool, as Republicans have cast it as a shortcut, even though they, too, have used it to pass legislation. The White House went further Monday than it has before in signaling support for reconciliation. Pfeiffer said the president believes the bill should receive an up-or-down vote. “This is designed to provide us maximum flexibility if the opposition decides to take the extraordinary step of filibustering health reform,” Pfeiffer said. A senior Democratic Senate aide said any decision on how to proceed will wait until after the summit. The White House plan adopts the broad framework of the House and Senate bills, which require individuals to purchase insurance, provide subsidies for lower-income Americans to buy coverage and prohibit insurers from refusing to cover people with pre-existing conditions. The plan appears designed to allay liberals in the House while not going too far in a way that would alienate Senate moderates. For example, it delays an unpopular tax on “Cadillac” insurance plans until 2018 for all Americans, which will please liberal Democrats, but omits the public option, which aims to keep moderates on board. “It would have been nice if it was in there, but I think there are practical reasons for that, and I hope we can continue to work our way through those,” said Whitehouse, who signed a letter last week urging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to include the public option in the bill. Asked if he was disappointed the bill doesn’t include a public option, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said, “We’re going to fight to put it in.” At the same time, the president makes a run at Republicans by boosting measures to crack down on waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare — a fixture in GOP talking points. The proposal eliminates some of the most maligned elements of the Senate bill and enhances popular provisions, such as fully closing the “doughnut hole” for Medicare prescription drug beneficiaries. Obama’s proposal also includes a legal requirement for all Americans to own insurance but lowers the penalty on individuals who don’t, to just $325 in the first year. After months of losing the messaging war on health care, the White House put a new frame on the subsidies for lower-income Americans to purchase health insurance, describing them as the “largest middle-class tax cut for health care in history.” At the same time, the plan would raise the Medicare payroll tax on couples earning more than $250,000 a year. The bill also gives the federal government sweeping new powers to curb exorbitant rate hikes by the nation’s health insurance companies. “It is a very constructive step forward, and we are now prepared to see what the Republicans will bring to the table Thursday,” said Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Original Article |
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