Everyone Hates Health Care III: Revenge of the Senate

Max Baucus, the chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has finally unveiled his much anticipated health care bill this week. And much like everything else associated with the health care debate, everyone hates it.

Senator Baucus' bill is the cheapest of all the bills circulating through Congress, totalling $856 billion over the next 10 years. But, the bill, which despite being negotiated with Republicans for months on a daily basis, at times, did not even win the endorsement of Olympia J. Snowe, the Republican Senator from Maine, with whom the Democrats have hoped to win support. Now the bill is drawing fire from both Democratic and Republican Senators alike, and a hailstorm of opposition from the House.

Among the many contested elements of the bill, is a 35 percent excise tax on high cost insurance policies. The threshold for these taxes would be on individual policies totalling over $8,000 a year and family policies totalling over $21,000. Republicans and Democrats alike have expressed concerns that the tax will only serve to hurt those in the middle class with more generous policies. While the tax is estimated to raise $215 billion over the next 10 years, many are still concerned that the tax will negatively affect many consumers. Senator John Kerry expressed his concern over the tax, stating that he felt the threshold was far too low. Not only is there this tax but there are tremendous fines for those who do not obtain healthcare coverage, penalizing individuals with a $950 fine and families with up to $3,800. So it would appear that, more than likely, you're gonna pay.

Another element of the bill that has drawn alot of fire, particularly from House Democrats, is the inclusion of citizenship verification for all those applying for government subsidies for healthcare. A similar element was introduced in the House by Republicans, and quickly defeated. The Bill also eases income requirements for those applying for Medicaid, the already troubled and overburdened healthcare system for the needy. Senator Baucus' bill would also make massive cuts to the Medicare system totalling $500 billion. However, Democrats have assured that the cuts would not restrict benefits.

Of course, no discussion of the health care debate would be complete without discussing the never ending issue of the public-run insurance plan. The Senate bill is one of the few, if not the only, bill to not include the now infamous public option. Instead, the bill would create non-profit insurance co-ops that would help to foster greater access to affordable health care. Liberals are outraged that the public option has not been included and have made quite clear that they would not expect such a bill to make it through the house. Meanwhile Republicans have made quite clear that they would not endorse bills with the public option.

The Senate bill is likely the last bill to be put on the table by both houses of Congress. And now, we debate. Democrats are desperately struggling to find the 60 vote threshold that would allow them to prevent any filibusters of the bill. However, while the Democrats are one senator short of having that number, it is far from certain that the Democratic Caucus would be unanimous in keeping a filibuster off the table. The senate democrats are extremely divided over what they feel is important in the bill and their own individual concerns as to what the bill does and does not address.

With all of the opposition from all sides, it is hard to even imagine what will happen when it comes time to stick a bill together from the House proposals and the Senate proposals. But I must say that when it's televised I will have my popcorn at the ready for watching all the drama unfold.

“Do I believe there is enough consensus around here to get a bill done in the end? Yes,” says Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. “But I also believe it is going to be a difficult couple of weeks.”

I guess we shall see....

Sources:


NY Times

NY Post

NY Times