TPM: Health Reform Draft Bill to Be Released by HELP Committee (Stripped for now of public option)

Health Reform Draft Bill To Be Released Today

By Brian Beutler - June 9, 2009, 11:27AM

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/health-reform-draft-bill-to-be-released-today.php

The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee will (officially) release a draft of its health reform legislation later this afternoon--four days after a version of it leaked on Friday.

According to Politico, Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT)--a senior member of that committee standing in for chairman Ted Kennedy--said the bill would be unveiled later today, stripped for now of its most controversial provisions, including the employer mandate and the public health insurance option.

We'll try to get more details for you (including an explanation for why those details will be missing) later today. Soon after the HELP bill is unveiled, the Senate Finance Committee will release its legislation, and the two will later be merged. More on the politics of that here.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/health-care-stakes-heat-up--kennedy-baucus-meet-with-obama.php

Keep in mind that Democrats have an ace up their sleeve in form of the reconciliation process. Nobody expects the Senate to sign on for a HELP-style bill, but if Republicans don't get on board with something (like, say, the Finance bill) the Democrats can pass the HELP legislation via the budget process.

Meanwhile, if Republicans in the Senate do play along, the bills can be merged into a single piece of legislation, that looks, for the most part like the Finance Committee's proposal. Then the House (where Henry Waxman's Energy and Commerce Committee takes the lead) can pass something along the lines of the Kennedy bill, and the final reform bill will be negotiated in conference committee.

That syncs with the political direction Democratic party leaders have been saying the reform process will take for some time. There's virtual unanimity among Democratic leaders on the Hill that the reconciliation process should be both a bargaining chip, and a tool of last resort, but that ideally a bill will pass through regular order. That's why it makes sense for the Senate to advance two very different bills.

Key Health Reform Mark-Up Scheduled For Next Week

By Brian Beutler - June 9, 2009, 3:57PM

The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee released an early version of their health reform legislation today, which, as I noted before, is silent on the crucial questions of the employer mandate and a public health insurance option.

All that, though, will be settled in the coming days and, by the end of the week or early next week the finalized version of the proposal will be released, public option and all. The committee released today's language in order to meet a deadline: next Tuesday, the legislation will be marked up and today's announcement fulfills a commitment to release the language a week in advance.

Earlier today, the committee put out a summary that was oddly mum about the public option.

An important foundation of The Affordable Health Choices Act is the following principle: If you like the coverage you have now, you keep it. But if you don't have health insurance or don't like the insurance you have, our bill will give you new, more affordable options.

But early reports and leaks indicate that it will include robust language, and all indications suggest that the HELP bill will propose broader reform than the Finance Committee's bill, expected to be unveiled in the next couple weeks.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/06/key-health-reform-mark-up-scheduled-for-next-week.php