This Week in Health Reform EasyToInsureME

December 9, 2009

This Week in Health Reform —Legislative Overview

Senate
Less
than two weeks after the debut of official legislative language, the
Senate began official debate on its $848 billion health care reform
bill “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (H.R. 3590) on
November 30. The bill, which is estimated to cover 94 percent of
Americans, passed its first hurdle before the Thanksgiving holiday when
Senate Democrats received the needed 60 votes on the “motion to
proceed” to debate.

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More
than 60 amendments have been filed to the Senate health care reform
legislation in its first week of debate. Some of the notable amendments
include one by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), which was adopted by a
vote of 61-39. The amendment would eliminate co-payments for many
preventive services for women – and would require that insurers provide
full coverage for breast and cervical cancer screenings. Senator David
Vitter (R-LA) also included a stipulation to the amendment that would
preclude the most recent controversial recommendations on breast cancer
screenings by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force from being used
for insurance coverage determinations. Additionally, Senator Ben Nelson
(D-NE) and Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) are crafting an abortion-related
amendment that will mirror the one passed in the House version of the
bill last month. The amendment would prohibit the use of federal funds
for abortions.

Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE) is leading efforts
in the Democratic caucus on the creation of a public health insurance
option that is built around a state-by-state “trigger” option. Carper
has spent weeks working with members of the Democratic caucus, as well
as some moderate Republicans on the amendment that he is hoping will
appease a broad range of individuals concerned about the government-run
health insurance plan, also known as the “public option”.

Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) still has significant work to do in uniting
his divided Democratic caucus. Reid has stated that he will keep
Senators in Washington on weekends throughout December to ensure that
key legislative issues are worked out before a final bill can be
brought to the Senate floor. As detailed above, Reid will have to
balance trying to appease the progressive members of his party with a
robust government-run health insurance plan with corralling the
moderate and conservative Democrats who have been vocal on issues such
as abortion and cost-containment measures.

House
The House
of Representatives remains quiet on health care reform legislation
after passing its portion of the bill in November. Its main focus
during the next few weeks before the holiday recess will be on a
financial regulation package to be brought up by the House Committee on
Ways and Means.