I've read a few articles this morning suggesting the same with the circulation of Senator Kennedy's 12-page white paper on health care reform. The few details about Senator Kennedy's planned health care proposal show that it goes further than the Schumer so-called compromise and is to the left of Senator Max Baucus' white paper:
The details are where Kennedy may diverge from Baucus. Liberal health care advocates expect the Massachusetts Democrat to attempt to pull Baucus to the left as they wade deeper into negotiations, and Kennedy’s heightened presence this week suggested to some that he was beginning that public offensive.
Indeed, in an email summary that began circulating this week, Kennedy was described as considering a public insurance option that would pay providers slightly more than Medicare rates – a structure that would draw fierce opposition from private insurers, Republicans and moderate Democrats.
He would also expand the Children’s Health Insurance Program to cover individuals up to 26-years old – up from 18 – and provide insurance subsidies on a sliding scale to families with incomes 500 percent above the poverty line. Both proposals provide more generous coverage than what is under consideration in the Finance Committee.
The New York Times goes even further into the possible split between Senator Kennedy and Senator Baucus on health care reform:
As a starting point for his bill, Mr. Kennedy favors a public plan that looks like Medicare, the government-run program for older Americans created in 1965, when he was a young senator.
By contrast, Senator Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who is chairman of the Finance Committee, has been working for months with the panel’s senior Republican, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, in the hope of forging a bipartisan bill, which would probably play down the option of a public plan.
...
Democrats on the Finance Committee said Mr. Baucus was exploring a possible compromise. Under this proposal, the public plan would be created only if private insurance companies had not made meaningful, affordable coverage available to all Americans within several years.
Senate Democrats said they believed that Mr. Baucus might settle for this "fallback plan," which could win some support on both sides of his committee, from people like Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, and Senator Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, a Republican.
Now, this is what we've been calling AGAINST in the past two weeks, this so-called "trigger" because of Senate moderates like Senator Wyden and Snowe. It's why the unions have been going HARD after Senator Wyden on this issue, and his proposed tax on employer health benefits. We've got to keep up the pressure on these Senate Finance Committee members.
This is why I don't believe that Senator Max Baucus is going to fight for the public option in health reform according to this article in the Huffington Post.
And Senator Charles Schumer seems to have lied to members from a single-payer group in this diary by DrSteveB, given his recent quote in the New York Times article about the possible split between Kennedy and Baucus:
Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the third-ranking member of the Senate Democratic leadership, said Friday, "It’s pretty certain that Senator Kennedy could not support the Baucus plan, and Senator Baucus could not support the Kennedy plan." But Mr. Schumer said "it’s possible" that both could support a version he is developing.
Under Mr. Schumer’s proposal, any new public plan would have to comply with all the rules and standards that apply to private insurance. A public plan would also have to be self-sustaining, would have to rely on premiums and would not have a pipeline into the federal Treasury.
Wow, and what did Senator Schumer tell the members from that single-payer group in that diary by DrSteveB?
The group presented a 5 point critique of Schumer's public option plan as reported in the NY Times:
- Public plan should not initially need to be self sustaining and should have all tax advantages of private plans.
- The treasury should serve as the reserve fund, no special reserve fund for public plan should be required.
- Any doctor accepting any plan offered through "the exchange" should be required to take the "public option."
- Regulators of private insurance must have no connection to private insurance companies or their investments.
- Private plans must be required to accept all comers.
Outcome:
Schumer promised to request that CBO score single payer! He said that scoring would be faster if Rangel makes the request but that his request alone is sufficient to get it scored (in retrospect, we should have asked "how fast?"). He seemed to be serious as he told "Megan" in Washington "got that".
He will request that Rangel meet with Three Parks (he had declined) and hold single payer hearings. He agreed with us that this could be an historic opportunity for Rangel to leave a legacy of having influenced healthcare for the positive (he also said that he, Schumer, could not hold such hearings).
He will offer to co-chair these hearings in some way.
He will think about re-shaping his plan vis points 1 and 3 above.
He alleged to already fully support 4 and 5 above and, in principal, everything to assure "level playing field".
Looks like he lied to these members from that single-payer group SINCE he gave a completely different quote in the New York Times article about how the public option must be self-sustaining and not requiring doctors to accept clients from the public option.
Anyways, here's more about how Senator Kennedy's bill will progress:
Kennedy is expected to present the bill to the White House on Monday, and the Democrats on the Senate health committee is scheduled to meet on Tuesday. The article notes that the committee could begin making changes to the bill on June 16.
We have until June 16th to effect any changes that we WANT to Senator Kennedy's bill, and we'll definitely KEEP UP the pressure on these Senate Finance Committee members starting Monday.
UPDATE: Just got the 12-page white paper that's being circulated around by Kennedy's office. It's a basic proposal, so feel free to read through it.