US Sen Baucus to unveil Health Policy Vision

US Sen Baucus to Unveil Health-Policy Vision Wednesday



By Patrick Yoest, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- A top Senate Democrat will make his pitch on broad- scale health-care overhaul to cover more people without insurance, with a growing consensus emerging that Congress will have to tackle health issues with a single bill.

Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., will unveil a package Wednesday that has been billed as his vision for comprehensive health-care change. Baucus, along with Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., controls the bulk of Senate jurisdiction over health-care issues.

Kennedy aides have said that he plans to move aggressively on health care in 2009, with the arrival of President-elect Barack Obama providing a boost to Democratic efforts to bring about fundamental change. But Kennedy will need the cooperation of Baucus, who could have a more cautious approach.

"I'm looking for Baucus to establish a strong centrist position that will give Obama real insight into what's happening in the Senate," said Alexander Vachon, a health-policy consultant and a former Finance Committee staffer.

It won't be the first time Baucus has discussed major health-care changes. Last year, he drew up a series o of principles on providing universal coverage, including the idea of "pooling" individuals and small businesses to allow them to get more competitive rates for health insurance.

It appears that the pooling concept will be part of the proposal Baucus offers Wednesday as well.

"Sen. Baucus has long said that he believes that pooling arrangements should be a necessary part of comprehensive heatlh-care reform, and he intends to discuss that in detail that at tomorrow's press conference," said Baucus spokeswoman Carol Guthrie.

The legislative process for incorporating competing policy ideas on health care is an initial hurdle for congressional Democrats, who are keen to avoid President Bill Clinton's failure to enact a health-care overhaul in 1993. Kennedy staffer Michael Myers said Nov. 6 at a Families USA event that a "one- bill strategy" is in the works in the Senate, which would preclude tackling health care changes piecemeal.

"Certainly as politicians, people will want to say 'here was my idea, I was a leader on health care," Myers said, but added that "I think there's a growing recognition that the best way, maybe the only way that this gets done is for Democrats to unite behind a single bill."

It is unclear exactly what a single-bill strategy means. Guthrie said that Baucus is seeking a "consensus product" and has reached out to Sen. Kennedy, but the single-bill concept would have even larger significance if Baucus announces he wants an overarching health package to also include items such as a Medicare reimbursement fix for physicians.

Such an approach could put Baucus into conflict with Rep. Pete Stark, D- Calif., who on Monday said he wants to pass a series of policy initiatives -- including expanding the state children's health-insurance program, chnages in Medicare reimbursements for physicians and health technology legislation -- in advance of a broad health-care measure. Starks chairs the House Ways and Means health subcommittee.

The idea of a comprehensive approach that ties measures to cover more uninsured people to other health-care initiatives has gained the support of some who assert that it will be easier to accomplish a fundamental restructuring of the health-care system.

"You could do all that in a comprehensive package," said Karen Ignagni, president and chief executive of America's Health Insurance Plans, a health insurers' trade group. "To approach this comprehensively actually gives you an opportunity to lay out the issues.

Much depends on Obama, whose transition team is meeting with congressional staff to lay out the groundwork for health overhaul. Stark said that, upon receiving Obama's health policy priorities, he expected the House and Senate to each produce bills that would see a conference to reconcile them -- a process that would require long, difficult negotiations.

"I think we are awaiting the president-elect's program, and when it arrives, we will proceed in regular order," Stark said on Monday.

-By Patrick Yoest, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-3554; patrick.yoest@ dowjones.com

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