This week in Health Care reform

Peek at the Week: Health Care Edition


February 8-12, 2010

White House/Democratic Leadership:

President Obama met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) yesterday to discuss health care reform and the jobs bill. Senate Democrats, led by Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), continue their work on jobs legislation that would include a short-term fix for the physician sustainable growth rate (SGR) as well as several Medicare extenders. Chairman Baucus is working with his Republican counterpart, Finance Committee Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-IA), on the package in the hopes of garnering some Republican votes. At this point, it appears that the main sticking point is the length of time included for the SGR fix and Medicare extenders. Democrats are determined to keep the SGR fix to 3 months and the Medicare extenders to no longer than a year. Democrats feel that anything longer will weaken the urgency for passage of larger scale health care reform. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) hopes to have the jobs bill on the floor next week.

Despite the apparent Democratic shift to jobs as the top domestic priority, the President reaffirmed his commitment to health care reform last night when he addressed officials from the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The President stated that he would like to meet with Democrats, Republicans, and health experts one more time to review the bill and see if any bipartisan agreement could be reached. If the meeting does not produce an accord, the President would push for a vote. The House and Senate leadership are still working to reach a deal that would involve the House passing the Senate bill and the Senate passing some House priorities through budget reconciliation; however, an agreement is unlikely to occur in the short term.

In the meantime, the House continues to work on individual bills that incorporate some of their health reform principles. Next week, they will vote on a bill that strips away the anti-trust exemption from health insurance companies. The bill is sponsored by two freshman House Democrats, Reps. Tom Perriello (D-VA) and Betsy Markey (D-CO).

Weekly Prescription:

The shock that consumed Congressional Democrats after the Massachusetts Senate race has given way to tension and mistrust. While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has said that she has the votes to move the Senate bill, she will not schedule the vote before the Senate makes some of the changes that the House wants through budget reconciliation. Moreover, Members of both bodies are frustrated with the lack of direction from the White House. Senate Democrats gave an earful to White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod recently, complaining that the President has provided inadequate leadership resulting in health care being stalled. These feelings make it difficult to forge a path forward on health care reform. The leadership will likely try and figure out the next steps before adjourning for the President’s Day recess, but it would not be a surprise if an agreement is not reached by then. While there will be stories stating that health care reform is dead, it is more likely that it will continue toexist in an induced coma until a jobs bill is passed.