Bulletin Blog

Tracking the latest developments on health care

• Eight Potential Hurdles To Health Reform

  Advocacy and lobbying stories in this week's National Journal: (subscription)"Eight Key Hurdles For Health Care Overhaul:"National Journal looks at eight groups that will be pivotal to the outcome of health care reform. However carefully crafted, no reform bill...

  Under the Influence | November 20, 2009 | 12:50 pm

• Need-To-Know Memo, Nov. 20

  1) The Senate is poised to vote Saturday night to proceed with debate on the health care bill, allowing Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to place his bill on the agenda as legislators head home for the Thanksgiving recess. The measure for cloture is expected to pass with three key Democratic swing votes, while Republicans have eased up on the threats to delay the vote by reading the bill aloud (CongressDailyAM -- subscription).

  2) House Democrats passed a bill to reform the way Medicare reimburses its doctors, attracting one Republican in the process. Rep. Michael Burgess of Texas, a physician, joined with the Democrats to pass the measure, which will cost $210 billion over 10 years and offers no offsets (The Hill).

  3) America's Health Insurance Plans, the health insurers' lobbying group, issued a scathing critique of the Senate plan. President Karen Ignagni said the bill would drive up costs for families and encourage people to not seek treatment until they are very sick, but she vowed to work with Congress to improve the bill (New York Times).

  4) The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is pushing back against a 5 percent tax on cosmetic procedures in the Senate bill, saying it would affect working women. The group also charged that the tax would be difficult to collect and enforce (Roll Call -- subscription).

  5) The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force clarified its position on breast cancer screenings, saying its recent recommendations were not meant to discourage women in their 40s from checking themselves for cancer or getting mammograms. Rather, the panel wanted women to discuss options with their doctor and decide on their own whether to undergo regular screenings (Wall Street Journal).

  Jason Plautz | November 20, 2009 | 9:40 am

• How Will The Senate Debate Proceed?

  Now that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has unveiled his health care plan, the talk is turning from how to fund to how to debate the plan. Reid is planning to call for a cloture vote on Saturday with the goal of starting debate early in the week. However, without 60 solid votes for the bill, he runs the risk of seeing the bill stonewalled before it even reaches the floor. Here's a look at the potential outcomes for the debate:

  It Begins And Moves As Quickly As Possible

  President Obama has said repeatedly that he wants to sign a bill before the end of the year, a deadline echoed by Reid and Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. Reid placed the House bill on the Senate calendar, which potentially allows him to push the bill straight through to debate. If the bill passes the cloture vote, he could use procedural tactics to rush through the debate and get a final vote before Thanksgiving. While Democrats may appreciate a quick process like the House's Saturday night vote, others would rather see the bill debated in depth, and Republicans would surely criticize a rushed debate.

  Continue Reading

  Jason Plautz | November 20, 2009 | 8:30 am

• Plastic Surgery Tax Makes Comeback In Senate Bill

  After being all but written off, the plastic surgery tax made a surprising comeback in the Senate health care bill. The plan from Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would place a 5 percent tax on elective cosmetic surgery, but not on any medically necessary procedure.

  For more information on the plastic surgery tax, see the updated entry in NationalJournal.com's Offsets Glossary.

  Jason Plautz | November 19, 2009 | 3:25 pm

• Senate Plan Vs. House Bill: A Guide

  Though important differences remain on emotional questions like a public option and abortion, on the core issues of coverage and financing, the distance is narrowing between the health care reform legislation that recently passed the House of Representatives and the proposal that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., unveiled in the past 24 hours.

  The table that follows compares the Congressional Budget Office estimates of the bills' impact on coverage, federal spending and new revenue. CBO concluded that the House bill would reduce the number of uninsured by slightly more than the Senate bill (36 million to 31 million) and cover a slightly larger share of eligible Americans (96 percent vs. 94 percent).

  Continue Reading

  Ronald Brownstein | November 19, 2009 | 2:55 pm

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