Fix Health Care Policy

As part of Senator Harry Reid’s indefatigable effort to make each new version of the Senate health care legislation worse than the previous one, his Manager’s Amendment restructures and expands the health insurance premium tax included in the earlier versions of the Senate bill.

The earlier versions would have imposed a flat, $6.7 billion per year, health insurance premium tax (disguised as a “fee” imposed on private health insurers), starting in 2010.

The new version uses the same mechanism, but the tax doesn’t start until 2011 and is only $2 billion that first year — but then it increases to $4 billion in 2012, $7 billion in 2013, $9 billion in the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, and eventually $10 billion for 2017 and every year thereafter.

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Tags: health insurance, ObamaCare, premium taxes, Sen. Harry Reid, taxpayers

Over the past few days, as Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pushed ahead on the most partisan piece of significant legislation in the Senate’s storied history, political leaders on the left have sought to blame Republicans for the failure to achieve passage sooner. President Obama’s political consultant in the West Wing, David Axelrod, said as much on Meet the Press. Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean echoed these statements on the same program. And now the line seems to be at the top of every liberal talking points memo in Washington.

However, this line of political attack is patently false. First, there is the obvious fact that the media is choosing to ignore — the Democrats have overwhelming majorities in the House and Senate, and control the White House. How can one party meaningfully obstruct from a position of 40 votes in the Senate? Since a vote will in fact occur on Christmas Eve, it has been proven that you simply cannot effectively obstruct from the ultra-minority position. But more importantly, this line of political attack overlooks the two greatest obstructionists operating today — President Obama and Harry Reid. (more…)

Tags: buyouts, Howard Dean, ObamaCare, obstructionists, President Barack Obama, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Mary Landrieu

The months long drama over the fate of President Barack Obama’s health care plan ended at 1 AM this morning when the Senate voted 60 – 40, on a strictly party line vote, to end debate on Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) manager’s amendment; a mere 38-hours after it had been unveiled to the American public. With Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) threatening to veto the bill if any significant changes are made by the House in conference, it is virtually guaranteed that this is the version of Obamacare that will be signed by the President before his State of the Union address in January.

Final passage of this health bill will be historic, but not in the way President Obama intended. Never before has such a large restructuring of the U.S. economy been passed on a straight party-line vote. Never before has legislation so unpopular with the American people been passed on a straight party-line vote. Never before has the fate of one-sixth of our economy been so dependent on backroom deals and payoffs the full extent of which may not be known for years. (more…)

Tags: Obama Health Care Plan, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Harry Reid, Sen. Joseph Lieberman

The Obama White House and its congressional allies have tried all year to push their various bills through to passage by truncating the time between introduction and a decisive vote to the bare minimum. They figure the only way to get something passed is to minimize public review and scrutiny of whatever their latest idea is to engineer American health care from Washington, D.C.

To date, that tactic hasn’t worked out so well. In July, House Democrats tried to unveil a bill on the 14th for a planned vote on the 31st. A firestorm erupted, however, pushing back the vote into November. In the Senate, meanwhile, a series of self-imposed deadlines have been missed as Democratic pronouncements of inevitability have bumped up against the reality of steadfast and growing public opposition.

Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is running the same play again today, and very possibly with different results. He unveiled the latest version of his reform legislation this morning, filled to the brim with outrageous payoffs to buy the votes of holdout Senators. Virtually no one else has seen the bill before today, much less had a chance to give it the scrutiny it deserves. And certainly the public has not had a chance to weigh in. No matter. Senator Reid has simultaneously set in motion the procedures necessary to force a vote on his new health-care plan in a matter of hours, not weeks. (more…)

Tags: CBO, Medicaid, Medicare, Obama Health Care Plan, Sen. Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has set the stage for a major vote Monday morning at 1:00 AM – one that would require the support of 60 Senators. That would, if all goes according to Senator Reid’s plan, set up a late-night Christmas Eve vote on final passage. Senator Reid also used a rare procedure to block any further amendments from being offered, debated or voted upon.

When it comes time for Senators to cast their vote at 1:00AM Monday morning, shortly after Sunday Night Football ends and most Americans are in bed, they will have had less than 38 hours to understand a 383-page amendment that introduces several new concepts into the health care debate, including:

– A scheme that gives the Office of Personal Management immense power in administering what amounts to a multi-state public plan;

– How much a state “opt-out” of abortion coverage in the legislation erodes the long-standing Hyde-amendment;

– The budgetary impact of ELIMINATING the physician reimbursement fix; and,

– Multiple new taxes, federal regulations and sweet-heart deals aimed toward certain states like Nebraska.

It is important for Americans to understand the process being used by the Senate. Barring any procedural snags (of which there are many in the Senate’s complex rules and precedents), the debate is likely to play out as follows:

– Monday, 1:00 AM – Vote to invoke cloture (i.e. end debate) on the manager’s amendment. 60 votes are necessary.

– Tuesday, 7:00 AM – Vote to approve the manager’s amendment. A majority vote is necessary.

– Tuesday, 8:00 AM – Vote to invoke cloture on the original Reid substitute amendment (the 2,000-page bill). 60 votes are necessary.

– Wednesday, 2:00 PM – Vote to approve the Reid substitute amendment. A majority vote is necessary.

– Wednesday, 3:00 PM – Vote to invoke cloture on the underlying bill. 60 votes are necessary.

– Thursday, 9:00 PM – Vote to approve the underlying bill (i.e. the Senate’s version of Obamacare). A majority vote is necessary.

Last January, President Obama told his senior staff that “transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.” Now, an unconstitutional health care proposal that was drafted behind closed doors and poised to be approved while Americans are not looking will become the touchstone of his presidency. Surely this was not what the American people signed up for.

Tags: closed doors, Legislation, Medicaid, Medicare, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Harry Reid

Christmas is coming early for a few lucky states including Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Vermont. But their good fortune will come at the expense of other states. Overall, the government health care plan is still alive and well in Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-NV) manager’s amendment released this morning, hiding in the form of expanding Medicaid eligibility and inserting State Children’s Health Insurance Plan (SCHIP) rules into the Exchange.

First, the winning states. Nebraska and Hawaii are easily identifiable because the Reid amendment specifies their sweetheart deals by name. While all the other states will lose the extra federal financing for new Medicaid eligibles after 2017, full federal financing will continue for Nebraska. Hawaii gets funding for Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) payments that it gave up years ago to expand Medicaid eligibility. Ironically, $18.5 billion in cuts to the DSH program in all the other states help finance the rest of the health care legislation. (more…)

Tags: CBO, manager's amendment, Medicaid Expansion, schip, Sen. Harry Reid

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) just unveiled his much discussed amendment (called a manager’s amendment), which many believe is the President’s last chance to secure significant health care reform before next year’s mid-term elections. Fittingly, since no one has seen the bill, the Senate clerk is now reading the bill, which could take upwards of eight hours.

During that time, everyone will be trying to understand what is included in the bill. That includes understanding the key provisions that may have been inserted to win the support of Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), who appeared to be the lone holdout within the Democratic caucus. Heritage analysts are busy trying to understand the details of the 383-page amendment, though their general observations, public option and Medicare buy-in aside, remain.

The question for many casual Senate watchers is, now what? Senator Reid has narrow window of opportunity to pass this version of Obamacare out of the Senate before Christmas. In fact, most insiders suggest that a late-night Christmas Eve vote on passage is likely. There will be several key votes along the way; the first could be at 1AM Monday morning, when Washington will still be digging out from what could be a record snowfall. At that point, Senator Reid will need to ensure all 58 Democrats and 2 Independents support his legislation, as 60 votes will be needed to end debate.

For those counting the hours, it would set up the most crucial vote of the entire health care debate less than 40 hours after Senators and the American people first saw the new bill. Remember back in October, Senators Blanch Lincoln (D-AR), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mark L. Pryor (D-AR) and Jim Webb (D-VA) wrote a letter to Senator Reid requesting the bill and official score from the Congressional Budget Office would be available for at least 72 hours. For those snowed in along the East Coast, sit back and enjoy the clerk’s reading of the bill. It’s going to be a long day.

UPDATE: Various news outlets are reporting that Senator Nelson (D-NE) now supports the language and will vote to support the legislation.

Tags: Christmas Eve vote, manager's amendment, Sen. Ben Nelson, Sen. Harry Reid

Timmy: Mommy, where does the new drug I’m taking for my Leukemia come from?
Mother: It comes from a drug company.

Timmy: But why does the drug company make it? They don’t know me.
Mother: Well, partly they make drugs because they help people – the people who work for these companies have kids, too. But mostly they make the drugs because they make money. That’s what they do, just like Daddy when he takes care of patients at the hospital and I do in my office at home.

Timmy: But where does the drug really come from?
Mother: Drug companies spend years doing research into what works and what doesn’t. It costs a lot of money, and they get their money back when the drug works and we buy it.

Timmy: But what would happen if the company didn’t make enough money? (more…)

Tags: drug reimportation, Obama Health Care Plan, Sen. Harry Reid

Senator Reid seems comfortable with clandestine negotiations in order to ensure passage of any type of health reform. This course, aside from being politically dubious and whimsical, is fiscally reckless, and with its passage, will continue to add to the debt that will straddle future generations with a significant amount of fiscal stress.

As with the previous health reform bills, the assumptions and parameters the Congressional Budget Office must use will likely score this new bill as deficit neutral. Yet, the price tag for the overall bill will not changed, and will include massive expansions of Medicare and Medicaid making the long-term fiscal outlook in the US dismal at best.

Now, Congress wants to also raise the debt limit to finance more spending—including any type of health reform. Existing healthcare entitlement spending is already on an unsustainable course, however, and the intergenerational fiscal imbalance will only worsen, where future generations will face substantially higher net lifetime tax rates, permanently lower federal government purchases and transfers, or some combination of the two policy changes.

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Tags: debt, economy, health insurance, new taxes, ObamaCare, Sen. Harry Reid, spending