Negotiations Under Way To Merge Senate Health Reform Bills

October 15, 2009 — On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) convened the first of several meetings with top Democrats to combine the chamber's two health reform bills, The Hill reports (Young, The Hill, 10/14). Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) -- whose committee approved its bill on Tuesday -- and Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) -- who led the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee's markup of it reform bill (S 1679) -- attended the meeting, which also included top White House officials and aides.

Meeting participants said the discussion was loosely centered on whether to include a government-run public insurance plan option in the final bill and if additional subsidies should be offered to help residents obtain coverage. According to the New York Times, the effort to merge the two Senate reform bills will be a "potentially treacherous task" because of differing opinion among liberal and centrist Democrats. Democrats also want to preserve the support of Finance Committee member Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who on Tuesday became the first Republican in either chamber to publicly endorse any of the current health reform bills (Herszenhorn/Pear, New York Times, 10/15).

Collins, Lieberman Weigh In

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in an interview with the Associated Press on Wednesday said that she is open to supporting the Senate's final reform bill but that the Senate Finance Committee's bill needs to make coverage more affordable, reduce costs and protect Medicare, the AP/Washington Times reports (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/Washington Times, 10/14).

Collins called the Finance Committee bill the "best effort so far" but said she still has some "serious concerns" with the measure, which is expected to form the backbone of the chamber's final bill (Hitt et al., Wall Street Journal, 10/15). Collins added that she still is opposed to a public option within reform legislation. The Finance Committee bill does not include a public plan. Collins also said that she cannot support the proposal by Snowe to enforce a so-called "trigger," which would enact a public plan in states where private insurers do not provide affordable health coverage.

Meanwhile, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.) has indicated that he would not support a health reform bill similar to the Finance Committee's plan, the Wall Street Journal reports. Lieberman criticized the size and scope of the legislation, saying Democrats are trying to accomplish "too much" with the overhaul bill during an economic downturn. Lieberman's stance could be important if the Democrats are attempting to get 60 votes in order to avoid a filibuster (Strassel, Wall Street Journal, 10/14).