Is HR 3200 Dead :: U4Prez, Social Networking For Politics

Now this is change. President Obama late last week hit the stump to press the issue on the dying support for his health care plans. One observation I made was that he had changed his verbiage from 'health care reform' to 'insurance reform'. Was it a signal that he had changed his plans on having a public option in the health care bill? On the surface it seemed so. Leading Democrats began saying that the public option was never the most important part of the legislation. HHS Secretary Katherine Sebilius said it. Dick Durbin said it. President Obama said it. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stated he doesn't have the Democrat support in the Senate to pass it. On the other side, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has said that the House will not pass a bill that doesn't include the public option.

So in lies the big question. What will happen to HR 3200? The House seems destined to pass the legislation that the Senate admittedly doesn't have the votes to pass in it's current form. The Senate Finance Committee is attempting to work out some form of insurance co-op in lieu of the public option but as Friday has pointed out, that is still government control of the industry and will unlikely have anymore support as it did in it's original packaging.

Republicans signaled Tuesday that dropping the public option would not garner additional GOP backing. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), the second-ranking Senate Republican leader, criticized an alternative idea of creating a private insurance cooperative, calling it a "Trojan horse" that was effectively the same as the public option.

The Democrats have enough votes in the Senate to pass any legislation they wish without any support from across the aisle. But even with a filibuster proof majority are finding it difficult to gain support amongst their own party to do so. The current polling showing support for the plan wavering and the prospect of re-election looming in the face of unpopular legislation has the Democrats in a tight situation.

A situation which may have them scrapping their own bill or face a growing constituency of unhappy voters in 2010. Either way HR 3200 is now fully owned by the Democrats. What they decide to do with it has yet to be seen but it will definitely remain at the forefront heading into Sept. and beyond.

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Hopefully we will see some form of insurance reform regardless of what happens with the legislation. It must first start with TORT reform and include coverage for pre-existing conditions. I would also like to see some form of tax credit for doctors and hospitals who see those who are un-insured as well. We can reform the system without the government controlling it.

The following is an excerpt from a story on Politico. Bottom line is they could pass it if they had their own party. Placing blame on anyone else at this point is a signal to me that they are preparing to have to scrap the legislation: President Obama now realizes he probably will have to pass health reform with Democratic votes alone, White House officials say. The admission is a monumental shift in Washington’s top fight of the year, with the energy now shifting to differences among Democrats, rather than efforts to lure a critical mass of Republicans. The aides call it more a prediction than a strategy shift, and blame the GOP. "We were forced into this by Republicans," one official said. The administration is pointing to increasingly partisan comments by the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, Charles Grassley of Iowa, who said while home for summer recess: “I’m not walking away from the table. I’m being pushed away from the table.” Ken Spain, a spokesman for the National Republican Campaign Committee, said blaming the GOP is "laughable." "Apparently having a filibuster-proof majority, a 40-seat advantage in the House, and a president who was once really popular isn’t enough," Spain said in a statement. "Maybe if people actually liked the bill, Democrats’ wouldn’t have such a tough time whipping up bipartisan votes, much less vulnerable Democrats within their own party." West Wing aides are rewriting their strategy in an effort to eke out the votes they need, perhaps the bare minimum. But even that will be hard. The House-Senate split over whether to include a government-run plan is likely to make the final bill "very tough" to sell to enough Democrats to pass, according to leadership aides.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Is HR 3200 Dead?

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