Pelosi Seeks to Make Health Reform Bill More Liberal

5215995When House leadership brings a final health care bill to the full House floor, it may be more liberal than moderate House Democrats expected, according to reports.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is planning to include in the bill a tax on wealthy Americans, as well as a more robust government-run health insurance plan (or "public option"), abandoning the compromises leaders in a key committee worked out with the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, according to Roll Call.

The original tri-committee health care bill introduced in the House would have raised taxes by 5.4 percent on taxpayers making more than $1 million a year, but some Democrats have opposed the measure.

The original House bill also included a public option that moderates in the House Energy and Commerce Committee made less robust. The Blue Dogs in the committee worked out a deal with committee leaders to make a public option negotiate payment rates with medical providers — instead of dictating them. This is intended to put a public option on a "level playing field" with private insurers. Pelosi, however, reportedly plans to peg public option payment rates to Medicare payment rates.

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Roll Call reports Pelosi wants to finish work on the bill this week so it can be scored by the Congressional Budget Office and move to the full House floor by mid-October. Making the public option more robust could potentially prompt a number of moderate Democrats to vote against the bill, but it would also save the government money, since Medicare generally pays cheaper rates than private insurers.

Pelosi's decisions may not only affect the legislation -- the Hill newspaper points out that health insurance stock prices have risen or fallen based on the legislative progress, particularly with respect to the public option. Shares of UnitedHealth Group, Aetna and HealthNet Inc. rose when the Senate Finance Committee introduced a bill without a public option.

The Senate Committee is currently in the process of amending its own bill and will consider at least three amendments to add a public option to it.

"Stocks fluctuate enormously depending on where the public option is," Daniel Alpert, managing director of Westwood Capital, told the Hill. "I don't believe that any stock that's at all connected to healthcare isn't rising or falling with this issue."

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

[doc_holliday76]

by chazz109:
"At this point we can not afford this program because of all the added 53 new government agencies that it will produce and along with all the new government employees that will need to be hired."
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Jut where in the heck did you get those figures of 53 new agencies -- from glenn beck, hannity or the delusional rushbo?

As a matter of fact, a public OPTION is just like Medicare, with only a 3% overhead compared to the overly expensive for-profit insurance bozos that take the top cream off the $2.5 Trillion we spend every year on our expensive health care debacle, to the tune of 30% overhead and profit.

YOU should stop listening to that foxnewsus propagandus, and stop drinking that GOP Kool-aid, since all you can do is parrot the talking points of the usual lobbyists fighting this needed reform!

[doc_holliday76]

by owlgal:
"Pelosi is looking out for her own interests...."
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Typical rabid rightwad response, since even though Speaker Pelosi is wealthy like most of our congresscritters, she supports a robust public OPTION for the middle class, being paid-for by raising taxes on those making more than $1 Million annually, that have skated from paying their fair share for decades!

Time for the public OPTION that a full 2/3 of Americans support.

Time to tax the wealthiest Americans a little bit more than their average 22% with all their tax shelters and offhore accounts!

[Stevenapoli7]

Pelosi...for the sake of the country, please retire.

[nostraden]

She needs to look into what ALCOHOL does and COSTS To SOCIETY

$ 175,000,000,000.00 PER YEAR...........ANd WHat does SHE DO about it ?

BAN SMOKING

[tucano2]

So the Botox Babe wants a more liberal Bill? How about no Bill at all - that is what the vast majority of Americans want.

[YummyKippers]

The "vast majority of Americans" wants a bill that guarantees universal health coverage while keeping the cost of health care under control. Perhaps the proposed bill isn't it, but that doesn't change the fact that most people realize the current system is broken and needs to be fixed.

[starleo146]

by velma179 September 24, 2009 6:05 PM EDT
by anti-global2 September 24, 2009 2:56 PM EDT
Hey BBDenver,

Are you poor, cause it seems the omly ones supporting this anymore are the poor, and really who cares what they think. Here is my idea, you don't pay real eatate and school taxes you cannot vote in local and state elections and your kids should have to pay tuition to attend public school others are paying for.
If you don't pay income taxes you cannot vote in national elections either. People with nothing should have nothing to say.

You know if you do not take care of the poor you will not reach the gates of heaven, you right wing christian's should know that. What!!! oh you have your own Christian way. All for me to heck with the rest. I thought so

[holycrud]

noloyalisti, I agree that insurance corperations need guidance. However if insurance companies were allowed to compete, like accross state lines, they would act like any other business. They would have to compete with one another, which in tuirn WILL drive down prices. The guidance I think they do need is to disallow pre-existing conditions and the like!

[doc_holliday76]

by holycrud:
"noloyalisti, I agree that insurance corperations need guidance."
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Guidance? NAH.....the for-profit insurance industry provides no health care whatsoever, and just skims the 30% cream off the top of the $2.5 Trillion health care debacle.

Your antiquated conservitard ideology has not worked and only given us a very bad delivery of health care in America, denied coverage for those with pre-existing conditions and denied coverage for those with expensive conditions, since it's all about PROFITS and the bottom line.

It's total insanity to expect these bozos to EVER change, and obviously they will never be able to offer competition or regulation!

[holycrud]

War is coming. The liberal democrats are chipping away ever so slowly at the liberties of Americans. When they penalize me for not choosing to participate in a government option or anything will be costly to all America. When they try to imporison me because I choose not to pay their "no insurance" fine is when tyranny from the liberals be complete. I quote from Star Wars episode III, "So this is how liberty dies, with thundrous applause." We hear you clapping liberals, Pelosi and the like, the Sons of Liberty (like in colonial America) will be reborn!

[doc_holliday76]

by holycrud:
"War is coming."
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Have you been totally asleep or just watching the foxnewsus propagandus network for Kool-aid guzzlers?

The busheviks started endless WAR over fantasized WMD years ago, and spent TRILLIONS of taxpayer dollars we could have used to reform our for-profit health care debacle, in order for ALL citizens to have good health care!

[noloyalisti]

What we desperately need to figure out is that we CANNOT have the corporations running health also be the ones to profit from it.

[nojoy01]

"Pelosi, however, reportedly plans to peg public option payment rates to Medicare payment rates."
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IF this becomes an accomplished fact then we will see just how fast the "public option" becomes the "only option" for those in our society with pre-existing conditions. The for profit insurance companies will not be allowed to turn down an applicant with a pre-existing condition, but unless the final bill passed also sets the premium rates that insurance companies must charge, then the for profit insurance companies will simply raise the rates for pre-existing conditions until the cannot be paid, leaving the public option as the only recourse for those unfortunates. Then, since the public option will have a disproportinate percentage of those with pre-existing conditions (sick people who will need care/payouts from day one) the premium rates for the "public option" might even wind up being higher than the rates of the for profit insurors. Because, after all, the premiums of the public option will have to meet the payouts of the insureds. Plus a 3-4% operating overhead. AND, if the gov't tells the for profit insurance providers that they cannot charge the applicant with a pre-existing condition more than a healthy person the same age then watch the rates for healthy people go up, way up. Which will include an operating overhead of 30-38%. If the majority of people really want affordable health care insurance the ONLY option that has a chance of providing this is to expand medicare to the entire population. And if you're not working or cannot afford the medicare premiums then there's medicaid.