Democrats, Lieberman List Demands for Backing U.S. Health Bill

Democratic and independent U.S. senators laid out a list of conditions to win their votes on health care legislation, underscoring the challenges facing Senate leaders as they work to pass a bill by the year’s end.
Connecticut independent Joseph Lieberman said today he is against a proposal to let people as young as 55 participate in the federal Medicare program. Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” show, he also said lawmakers should drop a proposed long-term care insurance program and a government-run insurance plan, or “public option.”
“We don’t need to keeping adding on to the back of this horse because we’re going to break the horse’s back and get nothing done,” said Lieberman, who usually votes with the Democrats.
Faced with the prospect of no Republican support for the measure, Senate Democrats may need all 58 of their party’s votes, plus those of the chamber’s two independents. The 10- year, $848 billion Senate bill is designed to cover 31 million uninsured Americans and curb medical expenses.
Ten Democratic senators yesterday attacked a compromise plan that includes expanding Medicare, which covers the elderly and disabled.
Other senators pressed their own demands today on the Sunday talk shows. Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, said he “can’t support the bill” without stricter limits on abortion funding. The Senate on Dec. 8 rejected a Nelson- sponsored amendment to tighten those restrictions.
Reducing Costs
Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri said on “Fox News Sunday” that she won’t support health care legislation unless it reduces both costs and the federal budget deficit.
“I have to be assured that this is going to bring down the deficit, and it’s going to bring down health care costs for most Missouri families,” said McCaskill.
McCaskill said the Congressional Budget Office’s anticipated cost estimate for the compromise plan will prove pivotal. Democratic leaders refused to share details of the plan until the estimate is released.
An analysis issued last week by the chief actuary at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said that national health expenditures would grow about $234 billion from 2010-2019 under the legislation now before the Senate.
Summers Question
Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” program, White House economic adviser Larry Summers didn’t answer directly when asked whether that analysis would preclude President Barack Obama from signing the bill.
“We’re very confident that this bill will reduce health care costs in whatever form ultimately emerges from the Congress,” Summers said.
Obama has made controlling costs a centerpiece of his drive for a health care overhaul, telling Congress on Sept. 9 that his plan “will slow the growth of health-care costs for our families.”
Republicans said the disagreements among Democrats were evidence that the entire effort should be scrapped. Republicans fault the legislation for cutting more than $400 billion from Medicare and say the measure would crowd out private insurers, raise taxes and cause the deficit to explode.
“I think they’re in serious trouble on this, and the core problem is the American people do not want us to pass it,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said today on “Face the Nation.”
Lieberman said that “there’s a good basic bill here” and that “parts of it can be supported by 60 senators, including some Republicans.”
Democratic Letter
The 10 lawmakers yesterday demanded changes in Medicare reimbursement rates, complaining that Medicare currently underpays states with more efficient medical care and leaves fewer physicians willing to treat patients in the program.
The letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was signed by Senators Maria Cantwell of Washington, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken of Minnesota.
The current system pays providers for the number of services they provide, creating a situation in which Medicare pays more efficient states less for the same result, and “spends over one-third more for each beneficiary in some states compared to ours,” the Democratic senators wrote.
“An expansion of the program would simply see the same issue expanded to Americans between the ages of 55-64,” they said. They urged Reid to make changes in the bill to reward providers for the quality, not quantity, of their care.
The Medicare expansion, or buy-in, was meant to draw moderate support. It is part of a compromise to replace the government-run insurance plan that drew so much opposition it threatened to derail the legislation.
Both Republicans and centrist Democrats said a public plan would provide unfair competition to insurers such as Hartford, Connecticut-based Aetna Inc.

Democratic and independent U.S. senators laid out a list of conditions to win their votes on health care legislation, underscoring the challenges facing Senate leaders as they work to pass a bill by the year’s end.

Connecticut independent Joseph Lieberman said today he is against a proposal to let people as young as 55 participate in the federal Medicare program. Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation” show, he also said lawmakers should drop a proposed long-term care insurance program and a government-run insurance plan, or “public option.”

“We don’t need to keeping adding on to the back of this horse because we’re going to break the horse’s back and get nothing done,” said Lieberman, who usually votes with the Democrats.

Faced with the prospect of no Republican support for the measure, Senate Democrats may need all 58 of their party’s votes, plus those of the chamber’s two independents. The 10- year, $848 billion Senate bill is designed to cover 31 million uninsured Americans and curb medical expenses.

Ten Democratic senators yesterday attacked a compromise plan that includes expanding Medicare, which covers the elderly and disabled.

Other senators pressed their own demands today on the Sunday talk shows. Senator Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat, said he “can’t support the bill” without stricter limits on abortion funding. The Senate on Dec. 8 rejected a Nelson- sponsored amendment to tighten those restrictions.

Reducing Costs

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri said on “Fox News Sunday” that she won’t support health care legislation unless it reduces both costs and the federal budget deficit.

“I have to be assured that this is going to bring down the deficit, and it’s going to bring down health care costs for most Missouri families,” said McCaskill.

McCaskill said the Congressional Budget Office’s anticipated cost estimate for the compromise plan will prove pivotal. Democratic leaders refused to share details of the plan until the estimate is released.

An analysis issued last week by the chief actuary at the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said that national health expenditures would grow about $234 billion from 2010-2019 under the legislation now before the Senate.

Summers Question

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week” program, White House economic adviser Larry Summers didn’t answer directly when asked whether that analysis would preclude President Barack Obama from signing the bill.

“We’re very confident that this bill will reduce health care costs in whatever form ultimately emerges from the Congress,” Summers said.

Obama has made controlling costs a centerpiece of his drive for a health care overhaul, telling Congress on Sept. 9 that his plan “will slow the growth of health-care costs for our families.”

Republicans said the disagreements among Democrats were evidence that the entire effort should be scrapped. Republicans fault the legislation for cutting more than $400 billion from Medicare and say the measure would crowd out private insurers, raise taxes and cause the deficit to explode.

“I think they’re in serious trouble on this, and the core problem is the American people do not want us to pass it,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said today on “Face the Nation.”

Lieberman said that “there’s a good basic bill here” and that “parts of it can be supported by 60 senators, including some Republicans.”

Democratic Letter

The 10 lawmakers yesterday demanded changes in Medicare reimbursement rates, complaining that Medicare currently underpays states with more efficient medical care and leaves fewer physicians willing to treat patients in the program.

The letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was signed by Senators Maria Cantwell of Washington, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden of Oregon, and Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken of Minnesota.

The current system pays providers for the number of services they provide, creating a situation in which Medicare pays more efficient states less for the same result, and “spends over one-third more for each beneficiary in some states compared to ours,” the Democratic senators wrote.

“An expansion of the program would simply see the same issue expanded to Americans between the ages of 55-64,” they said. They urged Reid to make changes in the bill to reward providers for the quality, not quantity, of their care.

The Medicare expansion, or buy-in, was meant to draw moderate support. It is part of a compromise to replace the government-run insurance plan that drew so much opposition it threatened to derail the legislation.

Both Republicans and centrist Democrats said a public plan would provide unfair competition to insurers such as Hartford, Connecticut-based Aetna Inc.

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