House Bill on Health Insurance Clears Three Panels, Faces Opposition

House Bill on Health Insurance Clears Three Panels, Faces Opposition in Individual Health Insurance

Democrats pushed health insurance legislation through a key congressional committee Friday, providing President Obama with some measure of success before the House recess. The House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the bill 31-28 along party lines, reports the Associated Press.

The next step is House floor consideration, presumably in September. In the Senate, several officials said Sen. Max Baucus had informed fellow senators he intends to convene his Finance Committee to begin voting by September 15.

As it stands, the bill isn’t faring well with Republicans and even some Democrats. Few concessions were made to their proposed amendments, which dealt mostly with: eliminating a public plan option; not increasing the deficit; new rules governing medical decisions, wait times to see a doctor and HSA options; and prohibitions on funding for abortion and benefits for illegal immigrants.

It’s not a small list.

And they are not taking this month off from campaigning for them. In the Senate, plans are already in motion for public meetings and a blizzard of radio and television appearances.

Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, a family practice doctor, and John Barrasso of Wyoming, an orthopedic surgeon, will take their “Senate Doctors Show,” an Internet program, on the road to argue that the Democratic plan will not improve care or control costs.

In the House, Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, chairman of the Republican Conference, distributed a packet to colleagues on Friday urging them to argue that the Democrats’ plan would include “more than $800 billion in new tax hikes” and “harmful cuts” to Medicare that would “result in millions of seniors losing their health coverage.”

Of course, the Dems have their own August offensive planned, but are gearing it more specifically against insurers, a much more hard-line approach against the industry than they’ve espoused until now.

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