NYT: Team Effort In The House To Overhaul Health Care (Waxman, Rangel, Miller)

[Hissyspit]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/us/politics/18health.html?_r=1&ref=us

Team Effort in the House to Overhaul Health Care

By ROBERT PEAR
Published: March 17, 2009
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.

In a letter to President Obama, the chairmen said, “Our intention is to bring similar legislation before our committees.” Mr. Waxman, chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said, “We intend to work from a single bill, and have that bill considered by the House before the August recess.” The Senate committee chairmen responsible for health legislation, Max Baucus of Montana and Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, both Democrats, have outlined a similar schedule.

Such agreements, while no guarantee of success, could help build momentum for a bill. A united front could make it harder for lobbyists to derail legislation. White House officials welcomed the prospect of cooperation by House leaders, saying it increased the chances of passing a bill to expand coverage this year, a top priority for Mr. Obama.

Many issues, including the question of how to pay for it, are unresolved. But the House chairmen said they had informally agreed to plow ahead on the assumptions that individuals would be required to carry insurance and that most employers would be required to help pay for it.

In health policy circles, the shorthand for such proposals is “individual mandate” and “employer mandate.” House Democrats prefer to say that “everyone will participate, and everyone will benefit.”

Leading Republicans and insurance companies have expressed alarm at the idea of a new government-run insurance plan competing with private insurers. But House Democrats are not backing down. “A lot of people don’t care whether it’s Medicare, Medicaid, public or private,” said Mr. Rangel, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. “They just want to know they can get affordable health care.”

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[FrenchieCat]

1. We are not going to get the health care reform that we want,

because we just gave the Republicans the upper hand in the rest of any agenda that we had evisioned.

[bananas]

2. Obama should invite Bernie Sanders

to these discussions.