House Democrats a step closer to agreement on health bill

Universal sign-ups and public option remain in plan

October 29, 2009|Erica Werner, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - House Democrats reached agreement yesterday on key elements of a health care bill that would vastly alter America’s medical landscape, requiring virtually universal sign-ups and establishing a new government-run insurance option for millions.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned a formal announcement this morning, but details were still being finalized, lawmakers and aides said. Officials said the legislation could be up for a vote on the House floor next week.

The unveiling would cap months of negotiations to bridge differences between liberal and moderate Democrats and blend health care overhaul bills passed by three committees over the summer.

The final product in the House, reflecting many of President Obama’s priorities, includes new requirements for employers to offer insurance to their workers or face penalties, fines on Americans who do not purchase coverage, and subsidies to help lower-income people do so. Insurance companies would face new prohibitions against charging much more to older people or denying coverage to people with health conditions.

The price tag, topping $1 trillion over 10 years, would be paid for by taxing high-income people and cutting about $500 billion in payments to Medicare providers. The legislation would extend health coverage to around 95 percent of Americans.

“I’m pretty confident that we’ve got the right pieces in place,’’ said Representative George Miller, a California Democrat and chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, one of the three panels involved in writing the bill. “We can quibble over parts of it, but the fact is when you’re taking a 60-year-old system that grew up in a rather haphazard fashion and you’re trying to bring some coherence to it, these are sort of the things you have to do at the beginning of that process.’’

Democratic leaders still faced disputes over prohibiting taxpayer money for abortions and health care for illegal immigrants, issues they hoped to resolve after the bill’s unveiling.

House leaders hope to finish the bill before Veterans Day, Nov. 11. The Senate is aiming to start debate sometime in the next several weeks.

Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada continued trying to round up support among moderate Democrats for his bill, which includes a modified government insurance option that states could opt out of.

Bills passed by the House and Senate would have to be merged before a final product could be sent to Obama. There are a number of differences between the two chamber’s bills that would have to be reconciled.

Among them are the different approaches to the public plan. The House does not include the opt-out provision for states, and it has more stringent requirements for employers.