Health reform – the lion of the Senate takes charge

For several months rumors have been floating around Capitol Hill about efforts by Sen Ted Kennedy to get legislation to the floor of both houses early in the new year. With the Senator’s recent move back to his DC home from his residence on Cape Cod, the talk is the discussions are accelerating in anticipation of a big win for his party (that would be the Democratic party) next week.
To date, meetings have included the usual suspects – AARP, the AMA, Consumers Union, Families USA, and the NFIB. Notably, some ‘unusual’ suspects have also been in attendance, an occurrence that may bode well for chances of something actually happening. According to the Boston Globe and other sources, meetings have included staffers from both parties, including staff from Mike Enzi’s office (R WY). This bipartisan participation, along with ‘pre-meeting meetings’ with staff from the two key Senate committees (Kennedy’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and Max Baucus’s (D MT) Finance) reflects Kennedy’s desire to not repeat the mistakes of the past.
The Clinton efforts were partially undone by intraparty infighting, a situation Kennedy et al are working hard to prevent at the outset. His efforts will likely build on the heavy lifting already done by Wyden and Bob Bennett on behalf of the Healthy Americans Act, a bipartisan initiative that has gotten positive reviews by a number of analysts, including me. HAA has been in the works for almost two years, and in that time the two originators have been able to garner support from equal number of GOP and Democratic Senators, an amazing accomplishment when one considers the partisan rancor that has smothered DC for the past six years.
Kennedy was one of Sen Obama’s early endorsers, a move that may well help push health reform to the front of the list in the next Congressional session.
What the sausage will look like after it comes out of the factory is impossible to know, but here’s a couple of predictions.
First, there will be some form of Medicare opt-in for individuals who want to buy into the program instead of dealing with individual insurers (sign me up!).
Second, expect a minimum set of benefits to ensure health plans don’t ‘underwrite’ via benefit design.
Third, don’t expect to see medical underwriting continue much longer.
Beyond that, it depends on who gets to throw the last ingredients into the sausage grinder.
That is, of course, if Kennedy et al are successful and health reform actually becomes law. While my gut tells me there’s just no money, my other organs are thinking ‘hell, if we can afford to give AIG an eighth of a trillion dollars, we can definitely afford big-time health reform’.
What does this mean?
Don’t think this as the last gasp of an aging, sick man. It may well be the final roar of the Lion of the Senate.