Fate of Health Insurance Reform Boils Down to Two Senators
Monday Sep 14, 2009Fate of Health Insurance Reform Boils Down to Two Senators in Politics and Legislation
This week is
something of a nail-biter for the overhaul of health insurance and
health care. When Senator Baucus unveils his finished proposal, reaction to it will
swiftly determine whether it’s bipartisan or if the Democrats have to
go it alone. Like everyone else, we’ve got our eyes trained on two senators:
Michael B. Enzi and Charles E. Grassley.
As we blogged last week, Senator Olympia J. Snowe has already warmed up to compromise on the bill. But the poker game is on with Mr. Grassley and Mr. Enzi: If they give any indication they won’t vote for the bill, they risk having the provisions they won in negotiations discarded. Naturally, the senators aren’t revealing a thing.
As if holding the “group of six” together wasn’t enough, Mr. Baucus faces another challenge as daunting yet equally crucial. He also has to orchestrate agreement among the wider 23-member Finance Committee over the proposed expansion of Medicaid. This will be a mess to sort out because Medicaid affects each state so differently.
We’ve noticed that issues like the public option and illegal immigrants have been getting the lion’s share of publicity, but for many members of Congress — and innumerable governors and other state lawmakers — Medicaid is an even more important issue… and has the potential to be even more divisive.
