VOICES: Senate has final word on health care reform
By Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media
President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid, key House and Senate Democrats and Republicans, and mostimportantly the major pharmaceuticals and private insurers know onething, and they've known it from the start of the health care debate:The Senate, not the House, will decide what, if any, health care reformplan is finally approved.
The pharmaceuticals and private insurers have repeatedly and forcefullymade it clear that they flatly reject a true public option, anyenforced restrictions on their right to charge whatever the freightwill carry for health care, or dump or summarily exclude anyone who'stoo sick, poor, or too old from coverage. They also made it abundantlyclear that they'll only accept a bill that requires millions to becovered by them at government (taxpayers) expense and that slapspenalties on those who refuse to go along with it.
The full enactment of the main provisions of whatever health care billis passed won't take place for nearly another decade, and that givesprivate insurers time to hike prices to cover any added costs in policyand coverage changes they must make under reform. They've fielded anarmy of lobbyists, health insurer flacks, held secret deal-cuttingmeetings at the White House, stuffed millions in the campaign coffersof leading Democratic senators (including one time senator Obama), andpoured more millions into ads and planted articles to get their way.
The Senate, and even more specifically, the Senate Finance Committee,has been the target of the insurers' relentless, prolonged, andwell-oiled campaign to get the most generous industry health care planpossible, or no plan at all. Their time, effort and money has beenwell-spent. The finance committee quickly killed the public option,slapped penalties on non-buyers, and imposed no tough regulations tocompel the private insurers to keep their bargain to insure everyone.It did not impose tight cost-containment measures to insure thatprivate insurers keep their prices down.
Senate leaders did not raise a peep at the crude, naked blackmailthreat by America's Health Insurance Plans, the private healthinsurance industry group. It publicly waved around a study itcommissioned that claimed that private insurers would have to sharplyincrease the prices families would pay if the House version of thehealth care reform plan passed.
The actual House vote is far from the great victory that Pelosi andDemocratic leaders declared. The Democrats had a crushing majority, hadpoll after poll that showed the public wants a real public option andfull affordable health coverage for all, and no cuts in Medicareservices (the cuts are in the House and Senate bills). Yet, the Housebill still barely squeaked through and then only after Pelosi and otherHouse liberals shamefully back pedaled and excised abortion coveragefrom the bill. This all guaranteed that the resistance to the mostliberal provisions of the House bill will be even more ferocious in theSenate.
Even if none of these factors came into play in the Senate, the Senatestill more often than not has been the graveyard for House passedlegislation that the Senate considers too liberal, too pro labor, tooexpansive, too costly, and too non-industry friendly. In the pastcouple of years, the Senate has killed House bills to toughen energystandards, to scale back contributions to the IMF, increase educationspending, and decrease war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dittoimmigration and major banking reforms. It also bottled up for years theHouse's expanded hate crimes bill.
Industry groups dead set against the House bill have one more trumpcard, and that's the conference committees. The Senate can amend,change the language, or red pencil out anything in a House bill. Itthen tosses it back to the House to amend, change the language orexcise things that the Senate wants tossed out. The conferencecommittee negotiations on controversial legislation are long, tediousand drawn out. When or even if agreement is ever reached, it then goesback to both the full body of the House and Senate for a vote. There'sno time frame for completion for any of this. Nor is there anyrequirement the Senate take a final vote. This was the case with otherpieces of "landmark" bills the House passed.
The House vote on health care reform was historic only in that one bodyof Congress took the hotly contested first big step toward reform. TheSenate hasn't spoken. And it, not the House, is the name of the game onhealth care reform.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. Hisforthcoming book, How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge(Middle Passage Press) will be released in January 2010.
President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid, key House and Senate Democrats and Republicans, and mostimportantly the major pharmaceuticals and private insurers know onething, and they've known it from the start of the health care debate:The Senate, not the House, will decide what, if any, health care reformplan is finally approved.
The pharmaceuticals and private insurers have repeatedly and forcefullymade it clear that they flatly reject a true public option, anyenforced restrictions on their right to charge whatever the freightwill carry for health care, or dump or summarily exclude anyone who'stoo sick, poor, or too old from coverage. They also made it abundantlyclear that they'll only accept a bill that requires millions to becovered by them at government (taxpayers) expense and that slapspenalties on those who refuse to go along with it.
The full enactment of the main provisions of whatever health care billis passed won't take place for nearly another decade, and that givesprivate insurers time to hike prices to cover any added costs in policyand coverage changes they must make under reform. They've fielded anarmy of lobbyists, health insurer flacks, held secret deal-cuttingmeetings at the White House, stuffed millions in the campaign coffersof leading Democratic senators (including one time senator Obama), andpoured more millions into ads and planted articles to get their way.
The Senate, and even more specifically, the Senate Finance Committee,has been the target of the insurers' relentless, prolonged, andwell-oiled campaign to get the most generous industry health care planpossible, or no plan at all. Their time, effort and money has beenwell-spent. The finance committee quickly killed the public option,slapped penalties on non-buyers, and imposed no tough regulations tocompel the private insurers to keep their bargain to insure everyone.It did not impose tight cost-containment measures to insure thatprivate insurers keep their prices down.
Senate leaders did not raise a peep at the crude, naked blackmailthreat by America's Health Insurance Plans, the private healthinsurance industry group. It publicly waved around a study itcommissioned that claimed that private insurers would have to sharplyincrease the prices families would pay if the House version of thehealth care reform plan passed.
The actual House vote is far from the great victory that Pelosi andDemocratic leaders declared. The Democrats had a crushing majority, hadpoll after poll that showed the public wants a real public option andfull affordable health coverage for all, and no cuts in Medicareservices (the cuts are in the House and Senate bills). Yet, the Housebill still barely squeaked through and then only after Pelosi and otherHouse liberals shamefully back pedaled and excised abortion coveragefrom the bill. This all guaranteed that the resistance to the mostliberal provisions of the House bill will be even more ferocious in theSenate.
Even if none of these factors came into play in the Senate, the Senatestill more often than not has been the graveyard for House passedlegislation that the Senate considers too liberal, too pro labor, tooexpansive, too costly, and too non-industry friendly. In the pastcouple of years, the Senate has killed House bills to toughen energystandards, to scale back contributions to the IMF, increase educationspending, and decrease war spending in Iraq and Afghanistan. Dittoimmigration and major banking reforms. It also bottled up for years theHouse's expanded hate crimes bill.
Industry groups dead set against the House bill have one more trumpcard, and that's the conference committees. The Senate can amend,change the language, or red pencil out anything in a House bill. Itthen tosses it back to the House to amend, change the language orexcise things that the Senate wants tossed out. The conferencecommittee negotiations on controversial legislation are long, tediousand drawn out. When or even if agreement is ever reached, it then goesback to both the full body of the House and Senate for a vote. There'sno time frame for completion for any of this. Nor is there anyrequirement the Senate take a final vote. This was the case with otherpieces of "landmark" bills the House passed.
The House vote on health care reform was historic only in that one bodyof Congress took the hotly contested first big step toward reform. TheSenate hasn't spoken. And it, not the House, is the name of the game onhealth care reform.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. Hisforthcoming book, How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge(Middle Passage Press) will be released in January 2010.
