Debate on Health Care Coming Down to the Wire

By Rachel LaForest
Public Policy Director

It's clear to most of us in this country that our health care system is inefficient, businesses and families are drowning in health care costs, and health insurance companies are profiting while denying care to those that need it most. This is why there must be reform.

As Congress gets down to the final business of what has seemed to be a never-ending whirlwind of high-strung, controversial debate, lobbying and politicking, the name of the game is getting real reform through the Senate

Earlier in the legislative process, "real reform" was a chaotic picture of different options, depending on whose lens you were looking through; and if you didn't know it before, you know it now, the initial bills that get funneled into our grand and complicated legislative process won't always look the same coming out on the other end. Much of what was present at the beginning was there to engender conversation and explore possibilities.

At the end of the day, the majority of us just want lawmakers to deal with the three big problems in our current health care system: (1) the cost of care, (2) the lack of access to care; and (3) the need for better-quality care. What has been present from the beginning and still remains today is the call for a public option as an answer to those three demands, meaning the government would offer a public plan similar to Medicare as one of the choices in the health insurance exchange to compete with private insurers.

Where do we stand now?

As of late October Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev was attempting to blend two versions of the Senate bill, one which contained a public option and one that did not. It was unclear whether or not there would be enough votes in the Senate to stop a filibuster.

On October 29th, Speaker Pelosi unveiled the contents of the House bill at a press conference on the steps of the U.S. Capitol The House bill includes a watered down public option, after differences were resolved within the Democratic Party. The toughest of them covered the terms under which the government insurance option would function. Moderates, fearing the impact on their local hospitals, held out for negotiated rates between the government and private insurers and won. The newly revised plan will not dictate what is paid out to hospitals, doctors and other providers, a goal that many liberal Democrats had hoped for as a means to control costs.

The legislation would be financed by a combination of cuts in planned Medicare spending and an income tax surcharge of 5.4 percent on individuals making at least $500,000 annually and couples making at least $1 million.

Equity Continues the Fight

Equity has not wavered on our demand for a public option. Despite the difficulty in monitoring the daily changes to the bills in both houses, Equity has continued its outreach to elected officials and other unions and its participation in a national call for health care reform.

The insurance lobby has raised millions of dollars to defeat reform but labor and our allies have been flooding congressional offices with phones calls, letters and faxes to make sure the proponents of reform aren't drowned out by the same element who have successfully blocked reform for over 40 years.

Equity will continue to post up-dates and action alerts to our website www.actorsequity.org.

Past AEA Healthcare Updates...