FixHealthCarePolicy

Congress Dismisses Public’s Transparency Demands

This past summer, hundreds of thousands of Americans attended townhall meetings and demanded their representatives be more upfront about the health reform legislation being crafted to overhaul one-sixth of the U.S. economy. But Congress continues to operate in a shroud of ambiguity. Members of the Senate Finance Committee even recently defeated an amendment that would have required Congress to post the actual committee bill (the committee currently is working on conceptual framework of a bill) online for at least 72 hours before voting on it.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) went as far to say the actual bills use arcane language that ordinary Americans wouldn’t understand. Regardless, the public has a right to have time (at least five days) to read the bills before they’re voted on. That’s what President Barack Obama campaigned on and he should hold Congress to keep that promise.

For more videos, visit our Dose of Reality: Fact Checking the White House page.

Tags: Barack Obama, health care, John Kerry, Senate Finance Committee

Senate’s Health Care Reform Has Unknown Costs

The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) preliminary analysis of the conceptual framework (not a complete bill) for the Senate Finance Committee’s health reform has been pegged to only cost taxpayers $829 billion over the next 10 years. But as Heritage and other health policy experts point out, there are a lot of hidden costs that aren’t being reported.

In a newly released Web memo, Heritage health policy analyst Greg D’Angelo points out the latest CBO estimate of the Senate Finance Committee legislation, penned by Chairman Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), is subject to change. Even with the amendments added into the legislative framework, D’Angelo quotes the CBO report that the proposal “has not been embodied in legislative language.” Therefore, lawmakers can and likely will make changes that alter the final price tag, writes D’Angelo, who also examined CBO scores for other health reform bills in Congress.

Health care economist James Capretta, with the Ethics and Public Policy Center, highlights in a new blog the CBO projection assumes Congress will follow through with Medicare and Medicaid cuts. History shows that when lawmakers made “arbitrary, across-the-board cuts, it was only a matter of months before they were scrambling to restore the cuts.” Restoring cuts in Medicare physician fees would add more than $200 billion to the plan’s bottom line, Capretta notes.

Also, Capretta mentions a so-called “firewall” within the Baucus legislation. 

“CBO’s assessment of the Baucus bill is built on the dubious assumption that Congress can hand out a lucrative new entitlement to a limited number of low- and moderate-income voters while denying it to tens of millions of others.

…All but the smallest employers would be required to offer qualifying coverage to their full-time workers to avoid hefty taxes, and the employees would have no choice but to take what is offered to avoid paying a penalty tax themselves.  The“firewall” thus prevents workers from exiting employer-based plans for the exchanges.”

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote Tuesday on the legislation.

Tags: CBO, health care reform, Sen. Max Baucus, Senate Finance Committee

The Vapor Bill – Congress’ Secret Plan to Pass Obamacare – Update

President Barack Obama’s push for a sweeping health care overhaul edged closer to a major victory in the Senate Finance Committee. Early this week, the Senate Finance Committee will vote on final passage on the “Vapor Bill” being debated and marked up in Committee. The term “Vapor Bill” is used to describe the legislation, because the Senate Finance Committee has been debating the outline of a bill and not actual bill text in Committee. Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) offered an amendment to allow a reading of the bill for 72 hours before final passage, so that members could read the bill they were voting upon, yet liberals in the committee blocked this amendment. We have mapped out one scenario for Senate consideration before, but we now have more details on the secret plan to pass Obamacare.

The Senate floor debate on health legislation could start as early as next week, but more likely they will consider Obamacare starting on October 13th. The Senate Finance Committee has been held up and will not have a final vote on the Committee bill until next Tuesday, therefore the Senate will have to wait another week before the debate starts.

Here is what we know. Sources on K Street and on Capitol Hill have confirmed the following scenario: (more…)

Tags: Congressional Budget Office, Jim Bunning, Obama Health Care Plan, Senate Finance Committee