Team Effort in the House to Overhaul Health Care

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WASHINGTON — Three powerful House committee chairmen have agreed to work together on legislation to overhaul the health care system, starting with the view that most employers should help finance coverage and that the government should offer a public health insurance plan as an alternative to private insurance.

The unified approach contrasts with the competition and rivalry among committee chairmen that helped sink President Bill Clinton’s plan for universal health insurance 15 years ago.

The three chairmen, George Miller and Henry A. Waxman of California and Charles B. Rangel of New York, all Democrats, have a combined total of more than 100 years of service in the House.

Mr. Miller, chairman of the Education and Labor Committee, which has jurisdiction over employee benefits, said the three lawmakers had decided to “try and work as one committee” to produce a comprehensive health care bill this summer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/politics/18health.html?th&emc=th