Democrats Reject GOP Healthcare Bill Amendments

A Senate panel took aim at a Thursday evening wrap on debate yesterday, even as Democrats rejected Republican efforts to remove fees from the current healthcare bill, which Democrats called "statement amendments." Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, claimed he had enough votes in the Senate to get approval of a bill that hit on all of President Obama’s priorities even as a certain rancor continued to exist between the parties.

Among the key points in the bill are extending health coverage to roughly 95% of Americans, requiring health insurance – and levying fines for failing to do so, providing subsidies to poor Americans to buy insurance and barring the dropping of coverage for sick customers by insurance companies. What is most conspicuous about the bill, however, is the absence of a public option, without which the health insurance requirement is little more than an early Christmas present for insurance companies. Noting that the new legislation would raise taxes, Senator Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, noted, "There are going to be a lot of people whose taxes are increased by this legislation." Crapo also noted that the bill would not jibe with "the promise and the pledge the president has made to the American people."

Democrats noted that the bill actually calls for $40 billion in tax cuts over ten years, as lower income people will be provided credits to buy insurance. What they failed to note, of course, are the fees that will be imposed on middle class constituents – the majority of the U.S. population. While Baucus noted that the Republican amendment was intended only to paint the bill as a tax increase, he failed to address the fact that the amendment sought only to exempt individuals making less than $200,000 a year and families making less than $250,000 each year from the fees that are included in the bill. When all is said and done, the new bill will apparently see middle class folks who are already have medical insurance left with the same options they have now – at the same prices – but with additional taxes to pay for coverage for "lower income" Americans. All in all, it does not appear to be the type of bill that would appeal to the majority of the country.