Health care bill heads to Senate; has a long way to go, some say

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a national health care bill Saturday.

But it will most likely change in the Senate.

“There are a whole bunch of different versions (of health care) the Senate has right now,” said Bill Ballenger, former Griffin Endowed Chair and editor of Inside Michigan Politics. “Whatever the Senate finally produces, assuming they can produce something, it has to be reconciled with what the House has just passed.”

Although the bill is an important step in the process, Ballenger said, there is a long way to go before a national health care plan is approved.

“I tend to believe the Senate will pass something,” he said. “The question is what, and when they pass it, how that will square with the House version that passed.”

The plan, H.R. 3200, is proposing a government-ran, universal health care plan. It also would include a public option for health care.

Abortion amendment

The House approved the bill by a five-vote margin, and only after representatives, including U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., added an amendment to prohibit abortion coverage in federal insurance plans.

The amendment prohibits federally-subsidized insurance plans from offering abortion coverage, but allows individuals to purchase elective abortion coverage plans on their own. Private companies may still offer elective abortions on their plans.

Griffin Endowed Chair and Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s director of special projects Maxine Berman said the amendment is recent and came out of nowhere.

“This is basically group of people who clearly didn’t want to vote for this anyway and decided to use abortion to hang their hats on,” she said. “It’s not really the right thing to do. I’m not questioning people’s feelings on the issue. I’m simply suggesting the fact it came up only in the last month leads me to be very suspicious.”

The bill also will prohibit insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing medical conditions.

What next?

Michigan Democratic Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow support Nevada Democratic Sen. Harry Reid’s health care bill. Stabenow was a supporter of a public plan, but said the bill is a good compromise.

Assistant political science professor Chris Owens said the bill may not have the 60 votes required in the Senate to avoid a filibuster.

“If you can’t get 60 members to vote for it, you can’t kill the filibuster,” Owens said. “Republicans can filibuster the bill to death.”

A filibuster on the bill in the Senate is very possible, Ballenger said.

“Democrats have no margin for error,” he said. “They cannot afford to lose even one member.”
Ballenger said the bill will likely change to gain support of both parties in the Senate.

Speculation regarding the bill’s completion by January is not out of the question, Berman said, if legislators work hard.

“They’ve been working on this sucker all year, there is no reason they can’t finish this before Christmas if they want to,” Berman said. “Legislators take as much time as you give them. They need a deadline, a real one.”

-Staff Reporter Ryan Czachorski contributed to this report.