Health Care Deformers Prepare For Senate Hurdle

Working through the media shutdown in Washington, D.C., the U.S. House passed a nearly 2,000 page health care deform bill while the nation watched college football games. Here in S.E. Michigan, the campaign to unseat Democratic Party Rep. Gary Peters began with his "yes" vote.

Health reformers prepare for Senate hurdle

By Edward Luce in Washington

Published: November 8 2009 20:19 | Last updated: November 8 2009 20:19

The first thing Barack Obama did late on Saturday night following the passage of the healthcare bill in the House of Representatives was to phone the heads of three industry lobby groups to thank them for their support. Not included on the list was the largest insurance lobby group, American Health Insurance Plans, which doggedly continues to oppose Democratic reform efforts.

Amid all the late night celebrations after the razor-thin 220-215 vote for the bill, Karen Ignagni, head of AHIP, warned that it would be a much tougher battle to push reform through the Senate in the weeks ahead. “The current House legislation fails to bend the healthcare cost curve and breaks the promise that those who like their current coverage can keep it,” she said. “The result will be increased costs and massive disruptions in the quality of coverage individuals and families rely on today.”

The final vote, which included a lone Republican in favour and 39 Democrats against, was achieved after a last-minute amendment that ruled out public funding for healthcare plans that offer coverage for abortion. That concession – and Mr Obama’s personal appeal for Democratic unity in a visit to Capitol Hill on Saturday – enabled a sufficiently large bunch of wavering conservative Democrats to put their support behind the $1,200bn 10-year reform effort.

Of the 39 Democrats who voted against the bill – just two short of the critical mass needed to defeat it – 31 were from districts that John McCain won in last November’s presidential election. Among the others were Dennis Kucinich, the former Democratic candidate and one of the most liberal congressmen, who said it would ensure the “the perpetuation, indeed the strengthening, of the for-profit health insurance industry, the very source of the problem”.

That division, between liberals who want a much stronger public role in the new healthcare system, and centrist Democrats who bitterly oppose it, looks much tougher to bridge in the Senate, where a simple majority will not be enough to enact the bill. Under Senate rules, 60 votes (out of 100) are required to stave off an opposition filibuster.

From FT.com