Congressman Tom Price, M.D.

12/19/2009
Democrats Strike Health Care Deal

Politico
Carrie Budoff Brown & Chris Frates
December 19, 2009

Senate Democrats announced a deal Saturday morning on a wide-ranging overhaul of the nation’s health care system, setting a course for a vote by Christmas and delivering President Barack Obama a badly needed victory on his top legislative priority.

A 13-hour negotiating session that stretched into the night Friday finally clinched the support of the last Democratic holdout, moderate Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) The handshake deal cleared the way for a series of votes that could stretch until 7 p.m. Christmas Eve.

“Change is never easy,” Nelson told reporters. “I truly believe this legislation will stand the test of time. The lives of millions Americans will be improved.”

Nelson agreed to support the bill after Democrats strengthened restrictions on federal funding of abortion, by allowing states to opt out from allowing plans to cover abortion in a new insurance marketplace. Also, enrollees in plans covering abortion must pay separate checks – one for abortion, one for the rest of services.

Similar proposals have come under fire from pro-life groups who call the maneuver a shell game. They argue that because the insurance plans offered through the exchange are eligible for federal subsidies, taxpayer money is still paying for the coverage of abortion.

Nelson also won his own version of Sen. Mary Landrieu's much-derided "Louisiana Purchase." In Nelson's case, the federal government will permanently pick up all the cost of new Medicaid enrollees in Nebraska, rather than splitting the tab with the state, as is usually done. Nelson’s Nebraska is the only state singled out for such treatment – a $45 million cost to federal taxpayers that shows the power of a single senator in this debate.

The federal government will also pick up the tab for all new Medicaid enrollees in the other 49 states through 2017.

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said the move may prove permanent.

"In 2017, as you know, when we have to start phasing back from 100 percent, and going down to 98 percent, they are going to say, 'Wait, there is one state that stays at 100?' And every governor in the country is going to say, 'Why doesn’t our state stay there?'" said Harkin.

"When you look at it, I thought well, God, good, it is going to be the impetus for all the states to stay at 100 percent. So he might have done all of us a favor."

Nelson, however, made clear that if the compromise on restricting federal funding of abortion and Medicaid funding don’t survive in the final House-Senate compromise, he will not support the final bill.

Politico