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Healthcare Reform Bill Approaching Critical Juncture

Posted on: Saturday, 11 July 2009, 08:30 CDT

As members of the House prepare to introduce their healthcare overhaul bill on Monday, majority leaders are scrambling to persuade Democratic representatives to toe the party line while a sober President Obama says he foresees a long process of tough negotiations.

Much of the controversy revolves around how the 10-year, $1 trillion plan will be financed in the midst of an already sagging economy and record budget deficits.

Representative Charlie Rangel, head of the House Ways and Means Committee, explained that the bill will include a provision for the federal government to level heavier taxes against the nation’s most prosperous citizens.  Beginning in 2011 Americans making over $350,000 a year would face heavier taxes in an attempt to raise some $540 billion to fund the health program over the following decade. 

The United States healthcare system has been the subject of much criticism in recent years, both domestic and international.  Every year, Americans dish out more than $2 trillion on healthcare costs—more than double any other nation—while some 46 million citizens remain uninsured.  Moreover, many claim that the quality of healthcare in the U.S. has steadily declined, with important health measurements like life expectancy falling amongst the lowest of all developed countries.

Obama has set a daunting task for Congress, asking them to deliver a healthcare bill by October that will cover the uninsured while simultaneously lowering medical costs.

On Friday, House leaders met with representatives of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrat coalition for closed door chats.  Prominent liberals are hoping to realign some 40 dissident Democrats who have signed an official letter expressing "strong reservations about the process and direction" of the revamped healthcare plan.

Though Democrats have a commanding majority in the House, the defection of 40 of their own members would likely endanger the bill’s chances of passage. With House Republicans reportedly feelingly alienated since the 2006 democratic takeover, few expect Democrats to find much cooperation coming from the other side of the aisle.

While agreeing on the general goal of universal healthcare, the small band of rebellious Democrats has contended that the cost of the proposed reform would prove unsustainable in the long-run.  They were particularly critical of Obama's drive for a federally-sponsored public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, arguing that it would “seriously weaken the financial stability of our local hospitals and doctors.”

Democratic Representative Charlie Melancon of Louisiana, co-chair of the Blue Dog coalition, spoke with reporters after the conference with House leaders saying that while the group believed that healthcare reform was indeed a pressing issue, what Americans need is “fiscally responsible healthcare reform that provides real competition and consumer choice in the marketplace.”

When questioned about the progress of the bill at a G8 news conference in Italy, President Obama remarked that “[t]here are going to be some tough negotiations in the days and weeks to come, but I am confident that we're going to get it done.”

He also laid blame on special interest groups for attempting to persuade Americans that the proposed reforms would mean that they would have to change doctors or give up healthcare benefits.

“Overcoming that fear—fear that is often actively promoted by special interests who profit from the existing system—is a challenge,” he told European reporters.

Democrats have rigorously defended the inclusion of a public insurance plan in the bill. Virginia Representative Gerry Connolly is so confident of the plan’s ability to save money that he believes it might not even be necessary to raise taxes to pay for it.

“I think a lot of us are concerned that we are not successfully getting the word out that actually we have identified a lot of savings with which to finance healthcare reform and at the same time bring down the cost to the average American family,” he explained.

Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina said that legislators were pondering another option that would allow the additional taxes on the wealthy to go into effect only if the expected savings failed to materialize.

President Obama has been adamant about the need pay directly for reform costs, saying that it would be a mistake to pile more debt onto the U.S.’s soaring deficit.

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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