Hospitals, Dems Near Health Care Cost Deal

Hospitals May Agree to Pick Up Part of Extended Coverage Plan Cost, Formal Announcement Could Come as Early as Tuesday

(AP)  With health care legislation at a crossroads, the nation's hospitals are near agreement with a key lawmaker and the White House to pick up part of the cost of President Barack Obama's plan for expanded coverage, officials said Monday.

The precise size of any deal was not available, although several days ago, talks were focused in the range of $150 billion to $155 billion over a decade. These officials said under the emerging agreement, hospitals would accept lower-than-anticipated payments under Medicare and Medicaid, the federal health care programs for seniors and the poor.

Any agreement involving Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and the White House would give fresh momentum to efforts to write bipartisan legislation on an issue that Obama has placed atop his list of domestic priorities.

Obama has said he wants to sign a bill in October that would reduce medical costs and provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured Americans.

Baucus and the White House reached agreement with the drug companies two weeks ago for pharmaceutical firms to spend $80 billion over a decade, divided between closing a coverage gap under Medicare and defraying part of the cost of providing health care to millions who lack it.

Last week, Wal-Mart, the nation's largest private employer, gave a boost to the White House when it announced support for a requirement on large firms to offer health coverage to their work force.

Several officials said no agreement with the hospitals had been sealed, although a formal announcement could come as early as Tuesday at the White House. The officials, who have been closely following the negotiations, spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the confidential nature of the discussions.

Baucus said in a brief interview last month he was negotiating with several health care industries in a search for money to cover the cost of legislation, which is expected to reach $1 trillion.

Elizabeth Lietz, a spokeswoman for the American Hospital Association, said the group is "talking with folks on health care reform, including the Finance Committee and the White House and other groups. But at this time we have nothing to report."

A spokesman at the Federation of American Hospitals declined to comment.

Under legislation taking shape in the House as well as the Senate, millions of uninsured Americans would receive coverage over the next few years, creating a huge new pool of customers - and possible source of income - for hospitals, drug companies, doctors and insurance companies. As a result, these industries are under pressure from the Obama administration and lawmakers to give up some of the fees they are currently scheduled to receive under the current system.

Hospitals, for example, receive special payments under both Medicare and Medicaid for taking care of patients who lack coverage.

The push for health care overhaul is at a critical juncture as Congress returns from a weeklong July 4 recess.

In the House, majority Democrats from three committees hope to have a combined bill ready for a vote on the floor by the end of the month.

In the Senate, two committees - Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions - are at work on legislation that eventually will have to be merged into one.

Baucus, as chairman of the Finance Committee, has been negotiating privately for days with Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in an attempt to reach a bipartisan agreement.

A consensus appears to hinge on creation of a compromise between the Democratic demand for a government-backed insurance plan to compete with private industry, and strong Republican refusal to accept any such arrangement.

Under the most prominent compromise under discussion, a non-profit cooperative would be established to sell insurance, with federal start-up money.

Failing a bipartisan deal, Baucus presumably would have to go ahead with a far different, Democrats-only measure, with a stronger government-run insurance option as well as other provisions that draw GOP objections.

At the same time, the Senate Health panel is expected to wrap up work in the next several days on a companion bill that includes the government-run option. There, final details must still be worked out over one major controversy, which includes the length of protection from competition biologic drug makers should receive from new products.

[warren631]

Healthcare in the US is controlled by greedy un-regulated ("free market") big business profiteers like HBOs and insurance companies who are only interested in making lots of money for their bottom lines and pay-checks and to hell with stupid US consumers.

How to cut healthcare costs? Easy - HBOs, insurance companies and all those other big business parasites in their shiny new office buildings who don't actually treat patients or provide medicines but who are making billions off of the health care of American citizens should be eliminated - or taxed at 90% to pay for universal health care for all citizens.

[babooph]

The politicians have been directed to set up a system that lets the insurance companies continue to rip off the public-after this is set ,then anything else can be fitted in.No public system has the lobbyist bribe deal in it ,so it is dead in the water.

[babooph]

The politicians have been directed to set up a system that lets the insurance companies continue to rip off the public-after this is set ,then anything else can be fitted in.No public system has the lobbyist bribe deal in it ,so it is dead in the water.

[babooph]

The private sector is SO superior to the govt.["can't do anything right"],that it is unable to compete with public coverage!!!The US propaganda system has sold this senseless BS to the weak minded citizen-"You can fool some of the people ALL of the time !"

[inesje88]

It is doubtful that the majority of our elected officials understand the health care crisis encountered by working Americans when the elected officials pockets are lined by not understanding it. The United States has become a Fascist country. Corporations run the country. In DC, there are 3 to 4 times as many lobbyists as elected officials. Members of Congress (who's annual salary is $174,000.00) retire as multi millionaires and often end up in high positions in fields they were hired to oversee. These same elected officials have excellent health care plans (for them and their families for life), that we the people pay for, yet very few of these elceted officials actually work on the behalf of we the people.
Obama campaigned on CHANGE, yet there is very little change coming out of DC thses days. How could there be? The presidency is just a figure head position. Actually corporations run this country. They care little about the laws, they control the money. There is very little change in government policy whether a Dem. or Rep. is in office. We have only an illusion. They play we the people for fools.

Corporations run our health insurance industry, hospitals and pharma. By law, corporations can only consider the interest of their shareholders. They are legally bound to put its bottom line before everything else, even the public good. Since the first of 2009, the health insdustry has spent over $1.4 million dollars of day lobbying in DC to prevent an real reform from occuring. That is because the health care industry in this country is a racket shouldered upon the working class for the elite and their prostitutes(many of our elected in DC) to prosper. Even when health industry CEO's are found commiting fraud (Rick Scott and William McGuire), they are not convicted, just fined a small sum of money(in compared to the financial gains made in the fraud). Our corporations send economic hitmen to third world countries to corrupt the politicians into handing over their natural resources and we (the American people), can not beleive when corporations do it here in the USA. WE, the working class of America, are a valuable resource and many of our elected officials have sold us out.

The other day, when asked by a person from his home state of Iowa, how he also could get to of the line health insurance, Charles Grassley smuggly answered "Get a job in the government". This is coming from a Republican. The party of family values and "let's end abortion". Mr. Grassley, do you only care about the babies health until the moment it exits the birth canal? Also, Mr. Grassley, do only government workers deserve excellent health care. May I remind you sir, you work for us, we the people. You are our employee, and the employee does not have better benefits than the employer. OR, DO YOU ACTUALLY WORK FOR THE CORPORATIONS THAT HAVE LINED YOUR POCKETS WITH MONEY? Your actions tell it all sir. One area of the federal government that is hiring is the military. The design of our economy crashing (nothing happens in politics or finance by accident), has been a boom for the recruiting business. Another sector of our economy that is a racket, WAR. this too is most often shouldered by the working class of America.

All this health care reform debate has taken working Americans eyes off of what is also going on in DC. There is an audit the FED campaign. HR 1207 has 245 co sponsers. What does this have to do with health care reform? For one thing, when an issue like health care reform is getting a great deal of press , and actually there is no true reform being mentioned, you have to ask yourself what is being hidden from the voters. My guess it was "cap and trade", and the bills to audit the FED. All this while Obama wants to give the FED more powers to regulate and control what they have crashed. Wake up America, while health care reform is a huge issue, we need to multi task and watch all that is going on in DC. Our elected officials say they are working hard, but we need to investigate and find out who they are working for.

[sjc_1]

The National Health Insurance option along with a mandate for large employers will bring in many of the uninsured. Keep it simple and do not go too far, we need something done but don't try to do it all at once.

[speakinup22]

Uh - WHO pays for the costs that the hospitals can't bill directly to other patients ?


YOU DO, if you go to the hospital.


Barry is back dooring this MASSIVE SOCIALIST effort.


That rat b-**** is going to take every last penny he can from us that worked hard to save. And, if he can't do it legally, he will inflate it.

I intend to make the word "Obama" the new scourge name, like: "Your name is Mudd."

[gravyboat4000]

This will just mean more lost jobs in Hospitals. Why aren't the companies that sell healthcare supplies, or the Pharmaceutacal companies being asked to pitch in?

Hospitals are suffering, just like patients. It's the big business medical manufacturers that are soaking us all, the Govt. most of all.

[jsd330]

And when the hospitals layoff because they are going to take reduced payments, that means longer waits for services and patient care. And it doesn't mean the Doc's will agree to reduced payments, unless they throw in tort reform, which Obama says is not an option. Of course Obama and most of congress and the senate are lawyers and we could never ask them to give up anything that would cut into their ambulance chaser friends profits.

[CitizenMikeM]

Hospitals are not suffering. In my area,we have two competing hospitals and they are the biggest property owners around. Every 1/4 mile you see another branch clinic of either one or the other. They are making money hand over fist.

[John_Merritt]

Let's not forget less reimbursement = less necessary services as well. We are running in circles people, and they are hoping we are all too dumb to figure out what is going on. Sorry Washington, we can see through the 'smoke and mirrors'.