Robert Slayton Associates Insurance believes the comprehensive health reform legislation working its way through Congress would have a profound impact on our clients. Working through our professional trade association, the National Association of Health Underwriters, we bring you this update on the latest happenings and means to contact your legislators on this critical issue.
Legislative Action in the House of Representatives
It was quite a busy week for health care reform negotiations in Washington. After a week of intense talks between the House Democratic leadership and the conservative Blue Dog Democrats Coalition, a deal appears to have been struck between the two groups of Democrats, and the Energy & Commerce Committee is expected to report a bill out of Committee with unified Democratic support on July 31. The bill will include what is being billed as the “Unity Amendment,” which includes concessions from both sides of the Caucus.
The other two committees of jurisdiction, the Ways & Means Committee and the Education and Labor Committees finished their versions of H.R. 3200 two weeks ago, and the initial goal was to report the measure out of Energy & Commerce last week and pass the entire measure on the House floor this week. However, the dispute with the Blue Dogs delayed the Energy & Commerce Committee mark-up, and now the House floor vote is delayed until Congress reconvenes in September.
The fate of H.R. 3200 and the efforts of the Blue Dogs when the three committee bills are merged together still remain under debate. There is some concern that agreements made with the Blue Dogs in the Energy & Commerce Committee will not be honored when the bill reaches the House Rules Committee in September. Over 57 progressive Democrats have signed a letter stating that they will not support earlier concessions promised to the Blue Dogs if they are brought the House floor, and Speaker Pelosi has indicated her support for the Progressive Caucus. The deal struck today is intended to alleviate this concern, but in reality the political climate after the August recess will have much to do with how the bills are “married” together as well.
Senate Finance Committee Will Not Mark Up Bill Until September
Over in the Senate, the bipartisan negotiation between Republican Senators Enzi, Grassley and Snowe and Committee Democrats has slowed, and Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) announced on July 30 that the committee will not be able to mark up their version of health care reform legislation before the Senate adjourns for its August recess on August 7. The Finance Committee legislation, which is still being drafted, may not even be available for public release before the Senate adjourns next week. This delay, particularly when coupled with the deal reached in the Energy & Commerce Committee, raises the question of how long the Democrats will continue to allow the bipartisan negotiations to continue.
Brining Health Care Messaging to the Public Will be the Focus of the August Congressional Recess
With the August congressional recess set to begin, it is clear that Republicans and Democrats alike view the recess as the high water mark for health care reform. Sliding personal poll numbers for President Obama are a factor, as is a decline in public support for Democratic health care efforts. A Pew Research Center poll released Thursday that found that 44 percent oppose “health care plans currently before Congress,” while just 38 percent favor the plans. In a NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll, 42 percent now say that the president’s plan is a bad idea, a 10-point increase since last month.
Republicans and some conservative Democrats are interpreting those declining numbers as lack of public support for overwhelming change. Instead, they believe that the public favors more deliberative and targeted reform, perhaps on an incremental basis. Their strategy for the August recess is mammoth public education on the realities of a government-run public plan option and other costly and intrusive elements of the Democratic bills, as well as the need to “get health reform right.”
But Democratic leaders are interpreting these polls as only a failure of messaging, and plan to ramp up their campaign efforts into as high as gear as possible during the August recess. Their focus seems to be on targeting insurance companies as the villains, beginning with a pronouncement from House Speaker Pelosi earlier in the week. “It’s almost immoral what they are doing,” she told reporters. “They are the villains. They have been part of the problem in a major way.”
They also want to use the time clear up what they view as public misconception about their work. This week House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD), conceded that Democrats have much ground to make up in August and need to focus on how their ideas would benefit the public if the party is to succeed on health reform. “We’re responsible for putting together a plan, and so we’ve been focused on that,” he said. “Republicans have been somewhat free to conjure up whatever they want.”
Grassroots Call to Action: Make Sure Health Reform is Done Right
Health reform is needed, but it needs to be both affordable and responsible, and it also should be crafted in a bipartisan way. This measure is the most consequential to be considered by Congress in decades—it will impact all citizens and change the scope of one-sixth of our nation’s economy. It’s crucial that we don’t let our congressional leaders rush to judgment on this measure. Instead, we need to urge them to spend August discussing the bill with their constituents, and then make changes to their bills when they reconvene in September to reflect the will of American employers and health care consumers. Click here to send a message to your legislators to let them know that you would like them to take the time to craft bipartisan comprehensive health care reform that will work for all Americans. Also, consider joining this coalition of concerned Americans dedicated to “getting health care reform right!”
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