A federal health insurance reform bill that would create a public health insurance plan passed the United States House of Representatives Nov. 7 by a narrow vote.
The bill would require every person to secure health coverage, create a public insurance plan and subsidize health costs for low-and-middle-income families and individuals. If approved by the Senate and signed into law, some of the bill’s provisions would kick in as early as Jan. 1, 2010, while others would be phased in over the following two years.
The bill passed narrowly with a 220-215 vote. Rep. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) and Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) voted in favor of the bill. Rep. Harry Teague (D-NM), whose congressional district spans southern New Mexico, was among 39 Democrats who voted against the bill.
Calls to Teague’s office were not returned, but he wrote in a Nov. 6 statement that he voted against the bill because it does too little to make insurance companies rein in health care costs.
Lujan spokesman Mark Nicastre declined to comment on Teague’s vote, and instead emphasized that Lujan was “encouraged” by the bill’s passage. Lujan was especially pleased that the bill’s cost dropped compared to initial drafts, and that it protects patients with pre-existing conditions from losing coverage, Nicastre said.
“However, (Lujan) would have liked to see a more robust public option than was included in the legislation,” Nicastre said.
The bill calls for the new government health insurance program to negotiate reimbursement rates directly with health providers. A different, “robust” proposal, which Lujan preferred, would have tied reimbursements to Medicaid rates. The bill’s proposal would save $25 billion over 10 years, while “robust” proposal would save $110 billion, according to draft estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
Earlier drafts of the bill had put health reform costs close to $1 trillion. The House bill came in at just under $900 billion. The reforms would be funded with savings from reforms to Medicare, and with a new 5.4-percent tax on individuals making $500,000 a year or more.
But first, the Senate must pass its own version of the bill. Jude McCartin, a spokeswoman for Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), said Tuesday senators expect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to release a senate bill “late this week or early next week.”
McCartin said Bingaman expects the Senate bill will “be slightly different” from the House bill, but did know what those changes could be. The Senate bill would have a strong chance of passing, McCartin said.
“It’s not definite, but (Bingaman) is very hopeful,” she said.
McCartin referred questions on specifics about the bill to an audio interview on Bingaman’s Web site. In that interview, Bingaman said he would support a public option plan with negotiated rates, similar to the one outlined in the House bill.
Todd Sandman, a spokesman for Española Hospital’s parent company, called the bill a “mixed bag.” On one hand, the bill could help by insuring more New Mexicans, Sandman said. On the other, it cuts reimbursements to hospitals and doctors by about $400 billion nationwide, he said.
“They’re really putting all of the pressure on hospitals and physicians to control all of the costs,” he said.
Sandman said the pressure would have been worse if the House had picked the “robust” public option over one with negotiated rates.