As Dems Look To Regroup, Pelosi Says House Will Not Pass Senate Reform Bill Without Changes

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance;  Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP;  Pregnancy / Obstetrics
Article Date: 25 Jan 2010 - 0:00 PDT

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday said Democrats in the House do not have enough votes to pass the Senate's health care reform bill (HR 3590) in its current form, effectively removing that option from the table as party leadership weighs how to proceed with the legislation, Politico reports. "In its present form, without any changes, I don't think it's possible to pass the Senate bill in the House," Pelosi said, adding, "I don't see the votes for it at this time."

According to Politico, House approval of the Senate bill would be the fastest strategy to advance a final bill to President Obama (O'Connor/Budoff Brown, Politico, 1/21). According to the Washington Post, Pelosi has "struggled" to convince Democrats to support the Senate bill since Tuesday's special election of Sen.-elect Scott Brown (R-Mass.). She said that there are "certain things" included in the Senate bill that some House Democrats "simply cannot support," such as a provision by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) that benefits Nebraska's Medicaid system. The amount of federal subsidies offered to uninsured people and a tax on high-cost insurance plans also face resistance (Murray/Kane, Washington Post, 1/22).

Democrats are left with two options for moving ahead with health reform, including the House passing a so-called "corrections" bill to amend parts of the Senate bill that are unfavorable to the chamber's Democratic caucus. The corrections bill would then be sent to the Senate "with a chance of melding the two pieces of legislation," Politico reports. The other option would be to pass a scaled-down bill focused on insurance reforms and some coverage expansions (O'Connor/Budoff Brown, Politico, 1/21). Both scenarios could involve the use of reconciliation, a process that requires only 51 votes in the Senate, the Post reports. However, reconciled bills are prohibited from including provisions that do not affect the federal budget, which would leave out many provisions in the current bills (Washington Post, 1/22).

Neither option has emerged as the likely strategy for congressional Democrats, who are looking for a way to quickly move forward on health reform, Politico reports. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday said Democrats are looking to act quickly because "I don't think we want to do [for] health care the next three months." He added, "There is a strong view in both caucuses that we want to do some good things in health care and the question is ... how much and how quickly" (O'Connor/Budoff Brown, Politico, 1/21).

A scaled-down bill could appeal to a few congressional Republicans. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is the "most likely convert" on the issue, as she voted for an early version of the Senate bill before opposing it, the Post reports (Washington Post, 1/22). Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate who voted against the Senate bill, said she thinks that "if the president reached out to a group of Republicans, including our leaders, ... the president would find that Republicans are willing to sit down with him and talk about how to achieve a bipartisan bill" (Levey/Hook, Los Angeles Times, 1/21). However, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said that the GOP would not support a scaled-down, incremental approach to health reform, Politico reports. The "goal" of the congressional Republican caucus "is to stop this monstrosity" and "start over in a bipartisan way," Boehner said, urging Republicans to continue opposing the legislation (Hohmann, Politico, 1/21).

HealthLeaders Media Examines Women's Health Provisions

While the issue of abortion coverage has gained much attention in the health reform debate, the Senate bill contains several other provisions related to women's health, such as the creation of a new Office of Women's Health under the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, HealthLeaders Media reports. The bill also would prohibit insurance companies from using practices like gender rating, denying coverage to domestic violence survivors or women who have had caesarean sections, and requiring that women obtain authorization before seeing an ob-gyn. The bill also would require insurance plans sold through proposed health insurance exchanges to cover maternity care, prohibit insurance plans from imposing lifetime coverage limits, and increase programs and payments for tobacco cessation programs targeted at pregnant Medicaid beneficiaries.

The Senate bill also would specify that controversial breast cancer screening guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force would not be used to deny mammography screening, HealthLeaders Media reports (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 1/21).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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