Individual Health Insurance Reform Weekly : EasyToInsureME : 9/06/09

Federal
As mightily as it has tried over the last week, Congress has only marginally moved the needle on health care reform. The Finance Committee will go home for the recess without a deal but with a promise to continue negotiating during the break, and with a target date of September 15 for Committee action. In the House, the Blue Dog Coalition of 52 conservative Democrats put a halt to the Energy & Commerce Committee’s process for 10 days when seven coalition members refused to proceed without concessions and compromises on the House health reform bill: a public plan that is optional to providers and that negotiates rates; preservation of the role of agents/brokers; keeping the bill under $1 trillion; and allowing state-based exchanges. The compromise reached allowed the committee to continue its mark-up and ultimately approve the bill. There are 50 additional amendments that the Committee intends to address prior to floor debate in the Fall. The House will try to meld all three Committee versions into one bill in anticipation of a full House debate and vote in September, at the earliest. The Blue Dogs have made it clear that the larger coalition of 52 has not signed off on anything and that the compromise was chiefly designed to allow the Committee process to proceed. (more…)