Health Care's Next Step

Today, if you didn't hear, there was in terms of the health care debate and its ongoing procedure and discussions a major vote. The fifth and final congressional committee met today to tackle reshaping the nation's health care system. At the end of their session, they exited with their blueprint for expanding coverage and to allow the process to take another step.

This now sets the stage for the debate to continue as the legislative decision-making begins finally. There was a hint of Republican support when Senator Olympia Snow (R-ME) voted with the 13 Democrats on the panel. I don't expect this to mean too much as this is an early vote and there still could be much done with the bill that impacts how Republicans and Democrats will vote. The Baucus bill (named for Finance Chairman, Max Baucus (D-MT)) is meant to be a bill that keeps moderate Democrats on board and possibility gets some Republican support. With Snowe's vote and her support, senior Democrats might be able to persuade conservative members of their party to back health care legislation and provide the 60-vote supermajority needed to head off a GOP filibuster. At the same time, if the Baucus bill is used to persuade moderate/conservative Democrats to vote for health care; it could also be tough to get liberal Democratic support due to its lack of universal coverage. In a bid to satisfy Republicans and conservative Democrats, Baucus did not include such a so-called public option in his bill. Instead he supported creation of a system of nonprofit insurance cooperatives.

All the Democratic measures in both houses of Congress seek to broaden coverage by requiring Americans to buy health insurance. In return, they would expand government programs such as Medicaid and create a system of regulated insurance markets in which low- and moderate-income Americans who lacked insurance could get federal subsidies to help them buy coverage.

Each step is another in the right direction and this could be a crucial one to get closer to a debate in the House of Representatives and the Senate by the end of 2009.