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"Now it's America's turn,
and this will not be a short debate," Sen. Mitch McConnell of
Kentucky, the Republican leader, warned after Majority Leader Harry
Reid unveiled long-awaited legislation Wednesday night to extend
coverage to 30 million more Americans and force insurance companies
to take all comers. "Higher premiums, tax increases and Medicare
cuts to pay for more government. The American people know that is
not reform," McConnell said.
Obama and Democrats hailed the 10-year, $849 billion measure that
would remake the nation's health care system, relying on cuts in
future Medicare spending to cover costs, as well as on higher
payroll taxes for the well-off and a new levy on patients undergoing
elective cosmetic surgery.
Reid, D-Nev., wrote the legislation with White House aides during
weeks of secretive negotiations, selecting elements from two
committee-passed bills, with the aim of securing the necessary 60
votes in a Senate debate that will be decisive for Obama's health
care agenda.
"From day one, our goal has been to enact legislation that offers
stability and security to those who have insurance and affordable
coverage to those who don't, and that lowers costs for families,
businesses and governments across the country," Obama said. Reid's
bill "meets those principles," the president said.
Aides said the mammoth, 2,074-page bill would reduce deficits by
$127 billion over a decade, citing estimates by the Congressional
Budget Office. For the first time most Americans would be required
to carry health insurance, and the bill would provide hundreds of
billions of dollars in subsidies to help those with lower incomes
afford coverage.
Employers would not be required to offer coverage, but medium and
large companies would pay a fee if the government ends up
subsidizing employees' insurance.
The House's version
Reid released his legislation more than a week after the House
approved its more expensive version of the health care bill on a
near party-line vote of 220-215.
Reid pointedly declined to claim the 60 votes needed to clear a
must-pass procedural hurdle before debate can begin. That vote could
take place Saturday.
Democrats hold 58 seats in the Senate, and two independents
generally vote with them, but several moderate Democrats -- Mary
Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Blanche Lincoln of
Arkansas -- have yet to commit to allowing debate to begin. Reid met
privately with the three before releasing his bill Wednesday, and
Nelson later issued a statement strongly suggesting he would support
fellow Democrats on the procedural vote. Landrieu said she wanted
more information about the bill before making a final decision,
while Lincoln, the only one of the three who faces re-election next
year, told reporters, "We'll wait and see."
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If this weekend's vote succeeds, it would be followed by weeks -- if
not more -- of unpredictable maneuvering on the Senate floor, where
Reid and his allies will seek to incorporate changes sought by
Democrats and repel attempts by Republicans to defeat the
legislation and inflict a significant political defeat on the
president.
Beginning in 2014, Reid's bill would set up new insurance
marketplaces called exchanges, primarily for those who now have a
hard time getting or keeping coverage. Consumers would have the
choice of purchasing government-sold insurance, an attempt to hold
down prices charged by private insurers.
The bill has many similarities to the House-passed measure but
with some important differences.
Reid called for increasing the Medicare payroll tax by half a
percentage point, to 1.95 percent, on income over $200,000 a year
for individuals, $250,000 for couples.
He also included a tax on high-value insurance policies, meant to
curb the appetite for expensive care.
The House bill contains neither of those two provisions, relying
on an income tax surcharge on the wealthy to finance an expansion of
coverage.
On a controversial issue that threatened to derail the House
legislation, Reid would allow the new government insurance plan to
cover abortions and would let companies that receive federal funds
offer insurance plans that include abortion coverage.
A provision in the House bill -- passed at the insistence of
anti-abortion Democrats over strenuous objections from liberals --
banned both those things. Reid attempted to tighten up the abortion
language to strictly segregate private from public funds, but that
did not pass muster with the National Right to Life Committee, which
issued a statement Wednesday night calling the language "completely
unacceptable."
[Associated Press;
By ERICA WERNER]
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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