All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

The White House and congressional Democrats today trumpeted the results of a new analysis (PDF) of the Senate health care bill's impact on premiums, released just hours before the Senate kicked off debate on the legislation.

Without taking into account subsidies, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's reform package would raise premiums on non-group insurance policies by an average of 10 percent to 13 percent by 2016, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. About 57 percent of consumers in the non-group market are expected to receive subsidies, however, and for those people, average premiums would drop by as much as 59 percent. The bill would have a much smaller impact on the cost of small group and large group insurance, which account for 83 percent of the market.

Incoming White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer wrote on the White House blog that the CBO report "contains more good news about what reform will mean for families struggling to keep up with skyrocketing premiums under the broken status quo."

Pfeiffer highlighted the CBO's conclusion that consumers in the nongroup market will see lower premiums, as well as the expected decrease in premiums for those who have employer-based coverage. Also, Pfeiffer wrote, "Americans who currently struggle to find coverage would see lower premiums because more people will be covered."

Pfeiffer emphasized that the CBO concludes that average premiums will rise in some cases because people will have more options and therefore choose to buy better insurance.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has a formidable task ahead of him this month as he tries to get 60 senators to allow for a vote in favor of his comprehensive health care reform package. The White House doesn't intend to let him go at it alone, however.

The Obama administration has been coordinating its health care messaging with Democratic leaders in the Senate according to various reports. Reid will "get backing from war rooms on Capitol Hill and in the White House, where operatives with a coordinated strategy stand ready to amplify the floor debate," Politico reports.

Meanwhile, the White House released today a video featuring Vice President Joe Biden, who asks, "Who do you trust?" when it comes to explaining what health insurance reform means. The video features physicians and nurses advocating for reform.

Reports last week said President Obama assigned a blog post from the Atlantic's Ron Brownstein, which praises the Senate health care bill, as required reading for all White House staff working on health care.

The White House has been working furiously on the issue behind the scenes all year, and the Associated Press reported last week exactly with whom. Administration officials have met with hundreds of lobbyists and others involved in the debate this year, the AP after obtaining 575 visitor records from the White House.

For more on the status of the current health care debate, check out CBSNews.com's latest Health Care Progress Report.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

Senate Democrats managed to pull together a 60-vote majority Saturday evening to pass a key vote keeping health care reform legislation on track, despite efforts by Republicans (and a few contentious Democrats) to stall or kill the bill.

There are many issues in the 2,000+ page legislation being debated in the Senate, from insurer abuse, preconditions and spiraling health costs to abortion funding and Medicare taxes. But the most contentious issue popping up continues to be the so-called "public option" — government-backed health care coverage — similar to Medicare but available to anyone who cannot obtain or afford coverage from private insurance companies.

"You have people on one side saying 'I won't vote for a final bill if it's in it,' and you have other people saying, 'I won't vote for a final bill if it's not in it,'" said CBS News political analyst John Dickerson, "and so as Harry Reid and the president try to mollify one group, they end up making the other group angry."

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada secured the 60 votes needed to move forward with the historic debate on President Obama’s overhaul of health care today.

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This post was written by CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes and CBS News producer John Nolen

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid unveiled his health care proposal "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" on Wednesday night.

The Congressional Budget Office says the bill would cost $848 billion dollars over 10 years, reduce the deficit by $130 billion and would extend coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans, reducing the number of uninsured individuals by 31 million leaving about 24 million people uninsured.

Here's a look at some of the key provisions of the bill:

• Effective Date 2014

• Requires most individuals to purchase coverage through their employer, privately or through a public plan. Includes exemptions for economic hardships. Fines for individuals not complying would start at $95 in 2014 phased-in over time up to $750.

• Creates a new public federal health insurance plan, the so-called "public option" which would compete with private insurers. States would have the choice of opting out by passing a state law.

• Establishes Health Insurance Exchanges, a marketplace where individuals, small businesses and others could purchase health care coverage.

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On "Washington Unplugged" Thursday, CBS News' Marc Ambinder said that while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has an uphill battle getting the health care he bill introduced last night passed, not all hope is lost

He noted how important the votes of Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu (La.) , Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.), as well Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman (Conn.), are to the bill's chance of passage. "Their biggest stated concern is that the bill will add to the deficit over ten years," Ambinder explained, adding that the White House and Democratic leaders are encouraged because the Reid plan was estimated to decrease the deficit.

"It removes a major obstacle to moderates supporting it," he said. And the White House may have reason to rejoice.

"The White House strategy amounts to three words," CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller said. "Get it passed."

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Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced today an investigation by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee into the Fort Hood shooting on Nov. 5, where Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly murdered 13 and wounded 43.

“We appreciate that the Army and the Justice Department are conducting a criminal investigation of this shooting," said Lieberman. "But that does not mean that the rest of us, including the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, can just sit back and watch."

Without interfering in the existing investigations by the Obama administration, Lieberman cited Congress' duty as a watchdog in launching the probe on whether the shooting could have been prevented.

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Republicans may be able to use the current health care debate to their advantage in upcoming elections, some polls suggest.

Two Quinnipiac polls released Thursday show Republican Senate candidates in Connecticut and Ohio gaining ground as voters in those states show increasing dissatisfaction with Democrats' health care reform effort.

Former Connecticut Congressman Rob Simmons, the leading contender for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination, is leading Democratic incumbent Chris Dodd 49 percent to 38 percent, according to the poll. Simmons increased his lead over Dodd by six percent since September.

Meanwhile, 48 percent of voters in Connecticut said they disapprove of the way President Obama is handling health care, compared with 45 percent who approve. In September, more people approved by a two-point margin.

In Ohio, former GOP Rep. Rob Portman inches ahead of his two Democratic opponents for the first time. Ohio voters oppose Mr. Obama's health care plan 55 percent to 36 percent after being nearly split on the issue in September.

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President Obama spoke to reporters Sunday afternoon in the White House Rose Garden about the House's passage of its health care reform bill late Saturday night and about the Iraqi parliament's approval of election legislation.

"Given the heated and often misleading rhetoric surrounding this legislation, I know that this was with a courageous vote for many members of Congress," Mr. Obama said about the House health care vote. "I'm grateful to them and for the rest of their colleagues for taking us this far."

"Now it falls on the United States Senate to take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people," Mr Obama said. "I'm absolutely confident that they will."

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Democrats on Capitol Hill today rebuffed a report that Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) has privately dropped his threat to possibly filibuster Democrats' health care plans.

Citing "two sources briefed on the matter," the Hill newspaper reported that "Lieberman has reached a private understanding with Majority Leader Harry Reid that he will not block a final vote on healthcare reform."

Lieberman spokesman Marshall Wittmann told the Hill the senator still plans to support a Republican filibuster of the Senate health care bill if it includes a government-run health insurance plan, or "public option." Lieberman initially said he would vote to block debate on any bill with a public option. He later said on CBS News' Face the Nation that he would vote for debate to proceed but ultimately support a filibuster of any bill with a public option.

Wittman told other news outlets today the Hill report was inaccurate.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care
A Public Option Primer
House Dems' Health Reform Hurdles Dwindle

"If you believe this story is true, you will also believe that I am replacing A Rod in game six of the series," he told Greg Sargent of the Plum Line Blog. "There is absolutely no 'private understanding'... Senator Lieberman’s unambiguously clear position, both in private and in public, is that he will vote for the motion to proceed to the health care bill because he supports health care reform that will control costs and insure people who don't have it now, but will oppose cloture on a final bill if it contains a public option."

Reid spokesman Jim Manley also said the story was untrue. "We hope to have his vote in the end but we are not there yet," he reportedly said.

Meanwhile, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said today that President Obama has not reached out to Lieberman since the senator announced his position on the issue, Huffington Post reports.