Pelosi Dismisses Idea Of Public Option 'Trigger;' Senate Finance Committee To Consider Public Option Amendments

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Article Date: 28 Sep 2009 - 0:00 PDT

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday rejected the idea of a so-called "trigger" for a public plan option, a health reform provision favored by the House's fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition and Senate Finance Committee member Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) -- a key vote in Democrats' hopes of winning some Republican support for a health system overhaul -- The Hill reports. The trigger would institute the public plan option only if other reforms failed to make health care more accessible.

Pelosi said, "I don't even want to talk about a trigger," adding that the "attitude" of her fellow Democrats seems to be that "a trigger is an excuse for not doing anything" (Soraghan [1], The Hill, 9/24). Pelosi has previously said that the public plan option could "save an enormous amount of money," adding, "If we don't take the full benefit of the savings, then what are our opportunity costs? Where else would we go ... to pay for the legislation?" (Hitt/Adamy, Wall Street Journal, 9/25). She also has voiced support for tying the public plan option to Medicare rates (Soraghan [1], The Hill, 9/24).

Moderate Democrats, including the Blue Dogs, said that Pelosi's stance on the public plan option and other initiatives -- such as a tax on individuals with annual incomes exceeding $1 million -- would prevent the House bill (HR 3200) from moving forward. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), the whip for the Blue Dogs, said, "Right now, I don't believe leadership has the votes to pass [the bill] in its current form." According to lawmakers and aides, Pelosi has said that about 20 Blue Dogs would vote for the current version of the House bill. Herseth Sandlin contends the count is lower, a sentiment she expressed to leadership staff on Wednesday.

Pelosi said House leadership is monitoring the Senate Finance Committee's markup of its reform bill to see what is included before asking for a vote on the House measure. According to the speaker, Congressional Budget Office scoring of the House bill could take up to two weeks after the final version is produced, meaning that a floor vote would come mid-October at the earliest (Epstein, CQ Today, 9/24).

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