Congress Makes Progress on Health Care

(CBS/AP)  Updated 4:50 p.m. ET

After weeks of turmoil, House Democrats reached a shaky peace with the party's rebellious rank-and-file conservatives Wednesday and cleared the way for a vote in September on sweeping health care legislation.

Bipartisan Senate negotiators reported progress, too, on a bill to extend coverage to 95 percent of all Americans without raising federal deficits. "We're on the edge, we're almost there," said Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican involved in the secretive Senate talks.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Finance Committee, said preliminary estimates from congressional budget experts showed the cost of the emerging Senate plan was below $900 billion and would result in an increase in employer-sponsored insurance — conclusions that may reassure critics who fear a bloated bill that prompts businesses to abandon the coverage they currently provide.

Across the Capitol, House Democratic leaders gave in to numerous demands from rank-and-file rebels, so-called Blue Dogs from the conservative wing of the party who had been blocking the bill's passage in the last of three committees. (Read more about the House deal)

The House changes, which drew immediate opposition from liberals in the chamber, would reduce the federal subsidies designed to help lower-income families afford insurance, exempt additional businesses from a requirement to offer insurance to their workers and change the terms of a government insurance option.

At their core, both the House bill and the plan under negotiation in the Senate are designed to meet President Barack Obama's goals of spreading health coverage to millions who now lack it, while slowing the skyrocketing growth in health care costs nationally.

Mr. Obama has placed the issue atop his domestic agenda, and as recently as two weeks ago was pressing the House and Senate insistently to pass separate bills by the end of July or early August.

The White House issued a statement praising the development in the House, and with appearances in North Carolina and Virginia, the president sought to minimize the significance of the slippage in his timetable.

"We did give them a deadline, and sort of we missed that deadline. But that's OK," Mr. Obama said. "We don't want to just do it quickly, we want to do it right."

In his appearances, Mr. Obama stressed that any legislation he signs will include numerous consumer protections, including a ban on insurance company denials of coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions. (Read more about Mr. Obama's appearance in North Carolina)

Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas, a leader of conservative and moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats, said the changes agreed to by the leadership would cut the cost of the House bill by about $100 billion over 10 years.

While Baucus reported the Senate Finance measure carried a price tag of under $1 trillion, congressional officials said it included only the cost of the first year of a 10-year, $245 billion program to increase doctor fees under Medicare. House Democrats used a similar sleight of hand, excluding the entire $245 billion when claiming their measure wouldn't add to the deficit.

The House deal was worked out over hours of talks that involved not only the chamber's leaders but also White House officials eager to advance the bill. It was unclear, though, what commitments Speaker Nancy Pelosi or the administration may have made to support the agreement once the bill advances to the floor this fall.

As word of the agreement spread, liberals fired back. "We do not support this," said Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif., head of the Progressive Caucus. "I think they have no idea how many people are against this. They can't possibly be taking us seriously if they're going to bring this forward."

Whatever the longer-term ramifications, Democrats said the way was now clear for the Energy and Commerce Committee to approve its portion of the legislation, the last step before it comes to the floor for a vote.

"We're hoping to get a bill out before we leave ... this week," said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-California, the panel's chairman.

Meanwhile, Republican House members are putting forward their own bill. Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., talked about the plan, called "Empowering Patients First Act," on CBSNews.com's "Washington Unplugged" today. (Watch the show here.)

"Liability reform has to be one or the hallmarks of a bill," Price told CBS News investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson. "We make certain we pay for our bill by making this a priority."

The plan, sponsored by the Republican Study Committee, promotes the individual insurance market as well as employer-based markets. It would give private insurers more freedom to work across state lines. Republicans say the plan will be paid for by reforms of defensive medicine, creating a more efficient health care system, and overall reductions in non-defense government spending. (Read more about the details of their plan here.)

Back in the Senate, Baucus, Grassley and two other senators from each party have been negotiating for weeks in hopes of agreeing on compromise legislation. Both men face considerable pressure from their respective parties — Baucus not to stray too far from Democratic objectives, Grassley not to hand the president a political victory.

Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has given Baucus months to see compromise across party lines is possible, and he told reporters during the day he expects a bipartisan plan to emerge.

The pace of decisions appears to have accelerated in recent days, with negotiators all but settling on a tax on high-cost insurance plans to help pay for the bill, as well as a new mechanism designed to curtail the growth of Medicare over the next 10 years and beyond.

More problematic from the Democrats' point of view is a tentative agreement to omit a provision in which the government would sell insurance in competition with private industry. In its place, the group is expected to recommend non-profit cooperatives that could operate at the state, regional or even national level.

Nor is any bipartisan recommendation likely to include a requirement for large businesses to offer insurance to their workers. Instead, they would have a choice between offering coverage or paying a portion of any government subsidy that non-insured employees would receive.

Like the House bill, the bipartisan proposal under discussion would expand eligibility for Medicaid to 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

It provides for federal subsidies for individuals and families up to 300 percent of poverty, less than the 400 percent in the House measure.

Even if the negotiations succeed before the Senate's vacation, it is not clear when the Finance Committee would vote.

The proposal would have to be blended with a more liberal measure that was approved last month by the Senate Health, Education Labor and Pensions Committee. It would then go to the Senate floor, where Democrats have 60-40 majority rather than the 3-3 lineup that Baucus and Grassley have led for months.

[jsd330]

So jon2012- 2009 So what you are saying is that every private company has high overhead costs and if the government competed with them all costs would come down. If the company that you work for had to compete with the government would they be able to? Or would they go out of business and leave you without a job, because they couldn't compete with the tax funded government. The government can't even run the Post Office without having a deficit and they are nore expensive then Fed X or UPS to send a package and it takes them longer to deliver it. Do you really belive that the government could run a health care plan that wouldn't be fraud and deficit ridden, or if it did have a surplus that the money wouldn't be spent on somthing else like was done with social security, to finance the Viet Nam war. The public health plan will do nothing but create more job loss's. Some small business's can't afford health insurance for their employee's and the public health plan mandates that. Do we need health reform yes, but not if it means more job losses, higher taxes and mandantory coverage and no choices.

[jon2012-2009]

In some sectors of the ecoomy, a government program works best, much better than private enterprise. This is true in the case of health care, as we've seen with Medicare and private health insurance, but also in other developed countries where a public option exists and is available to all. In those countries, the cost of health care is half of ours and the quality is better on measures like access, life expectancy, infant morality, cancer survival rates and so on. Private health insurance adds zero value to care and requires political patronage in Washington to thrive. That's what the lobbying costs come from.

If you don't think the U.S. Post Office can run a cost-effective operation, have tried sending a letter to any small town in America? Will FedEx or UPS take your letter? In those cases where they will, I doubt you can get it delivered more cheaply than with the U.S. Post Office charges: $0.44. I tried sending a package to my home country. UPS couldn't take it because they require a zip code on the destination and in my old country they don't work with that. When I asked how much it would cost anyway, if I came back and gave them a zip code, the cost was $100, more than twice what U.S. Post Office was charging. I went back to the Post Office. I haven't been back to UPS. UPS was friendlier but otherwise I couldn't afford their pricing.

[ampsanne]

After this bill goes through they will have signed the death warrant for all senior citizens. They don't care about us anymore, when we are the ones that help build America. We are no longer useful for this country. Seniors will be denied of health care benefits. Go to Fred Thomas website and listen to the Betsy McCaughey interview of July 16, 2009. She is a health care advocate. I wish everyone would listen to this. People are referring to this as the Senior Death Warrant. The want the seniors to suffer.

[CitizenMikeM]

Betsy McCaughey has been thourouly debunked by Politco.com. There is nothing in the plan that does what you write about. More scare propoganda.

[CitizenMikeM]

The Republicans unveil a 700B healthcare plan. Tax credits to help pay the private insurers high premiums, but nothing to keep cost increases in check. So what is the plan?--give a tax payer a $5000 per yr tax credit while the insurer raises the premium an equal amount?--I see a twinkle in both the Republicans and Private insurers eyes. For those with pre-existing conditions--Republicans want to offer grants to state to set up high risk insurance pools. The states that already have these pools are overwhelmed with applicants and have decades long waiting lists. Who are the Republicans trying to fool here? They offer no concrete proposals to curb the rising costs of premiums. I wouldn't be surprised if they fit all this NEW health plan on one page.

[afmcalax]

Agreed ... I am one of those with a pre-existing condition and what the Repubs do with their plan is make me a second class citizen. They will force me to a GOVERNMENT run program where the care will be inadequate. I find this plan hilarious for 2 reasons:
1. First the Repubs are so against GOVERNMENT run health care but only for the healthy. If you are unhealthy with a pre-existing condition then Repubs put the profits of the for-profit health care companies before people. Those people can be shuffled to a GOVERNMENT program.
2. Tax credits are once again flaunted. Give people a 5K credit for a 15K expense. Where the 10K difference comes from no Repub ever mentions. Takes their corporate friends off the hook; but leaves even more people with adequate healthcare.

Before this plan becomes a reality I think Congress should agree to be the guinea pigs.

[jon2012-2009]

We can make a big dent on our health care costs by dismantling the role of private health insurance as a major player in health care. A private insurance company spends 15% on adminisrative costs, a government program like Medicare only 3%. Why the difference? Private insurance has to make a profit, for one. But most of the excess costs come from its peculiar way of doing business: lots of manpower employed to go through your medical records looking for an excuse to deny care, legal expertise on staff to fight litigation from patients and regulators, fines and awards from lawsuits and violations, highly-paid lobbyists working in Washington. A public program of insurance does not incur those costs--who do nothing to improve care--as well as more mundane ones like marketing.

[imprisoncheney]

It certainly looks like the $1.5 million that the Big Insurance Mafia has been throwing at Congress was put to "good" use! They know how to pick prostitutes, don't they?

As Nietzsche once observed:

"There are horrible people who, instead of solving a problem, tangle it up and make it harder to solve for anyone who wants to deal with it. Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not ot hit it at all."

But, that's the weepublicans' (and Blue Dogs') job, isn't it? -- to tangle the debate up in confusing jibberish?

I'd say the suits on WS got their money's worth out of their wh***s -- again.

[jon2012-2009]

Health care reform has three main thrusts: costs, care, and coverage.

Our costs are out of line with the rest of the developed world, they spend half as much as we do on health care.

A comparison of health care among industrialized countries puts the U.S. dead last and some third world countries even beat us: we're 37th in a WHO ranking of health care in the world, worst life expectancy and infant mortality among developed countries.

Unlike every other developed country where health care is a basic human right and their citizens enjoy universal coverage, we're the only rich country where you find people going without health care coverage. Today, 47 million are uninsured, this number up from 33 million during the Clinton years, and expected to swell year after year as we fail to rein in health care costs.

[vista8635]

Do not go gentle into that good night! A pox on their house... A pound of flesh...

[debinok1]

If you want to call secret back room deals, progress, OK. Sounds to me like more of the same old washington politics where corporations get their way, the politicians get their way, and the AMERICAN PEOPLE GET THE SHAFT!

[babooph]

The bribes are paid,now the ins co will get MANDITORY increased suckers& likely federal tax $$$ paid right into their crooked accounts !!

[babooph]

The lobbied[bribed],propaganda system has done its job-confusing a simple thing-the Ins. companies will keep the rip off going,the public can now bend over & grab their own ankles.

[dscott2009]

"A Summer Tip For All Current Members of the House and Senate"

Please read the legislation before you have a vote. I know that 1000+ pages is alot of reading, but hey, you do have the whole Summer.

[jsd330]

Both sides of the asile are to busy counting their money this summer from the insurance, big pharm, Ama and hospital associations, to be bothered with reading a bill. Just throw it together and pass it for the POTUS and worry about what happens later. Right now it's "MILLER TIME".

[npkppprc]

This isn't about Republicans or Democrats it's about what is right, take the time to read the bill and then make you comments. Seniors will be, dropping like flies Yes I'm almost one of them and it scares the hell out of me that a president would inflict such indifference on seniors many will die waiting for politicians to decide what treatment is needed if any. Every 5 years after the age of 65 you will be required to talk to a government agent of some sort about dying with dignity. I lived with dignity and will die the same without Obama and Obamacare. Obama has it in his head this is a good thing for us all but he won?t sign up for it will he??? It is even written in the bill that Congress is exempt from Obamacare. PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO READ THE BILl BEFORE YOU PUT BLAME ON ANYONE.

[tmittelstaed]

No, you will be required to talk to a doctor, not a government agent, about your general health and what you might do to STAY HEALTHY, like cutting out those drugs that you seem to be taking!!!!

[ocreader]

...actually ConstantineXI make much sense (logical)...unfortunately, dennisall77, is of a younger generation and doesn't have any reliable information to back-up the "claim" of labeling them as unbalanced! Actually, when all this bears fruit, and all "hell" breaks loose on planet earth, the latter is gonna cry out for the former....who will probably be gone at that point-in-time...............