President Obama unveiled a new $950 billion health plan today in an effort to help bridge the gap between conflicting House and Senate bills, reports USA Today.
The president’s most controversial mission in his first year in office has been to pass a health care reform bill to help curb rising insurance costs and ensure coverage for every American. This Thursday, GOP and Democratic congressional leaders will meet for a summit to discuss the issue with Obama in an attempt to pass some kind of measure.
Obama’s package, his latest attempt to keep the process moving forward, “aims to give the American people and small business owners more control over their health care choices by building on the progress Congress has already made, and including new ideas from both parties and the President himself,” according to the White House website.
The combined plan, which leans more toward the Senate’s version of the health care bill, calls for new federal oversight of health insurance company practices, including rate hikes; new tax credits to offset the cost of insurance premiums; excise taxes on high-cost, so-called “Cadillac” health care plans; and closing the “doughnut hole” coverage gap in the existing prescription drug plan for seniors. It also calls for fines on businesses that don’t insure their employees for at least $2,000 per person, as well as individuals who refuse to obtain health care insurance.
But supporters of the House proposal to include government-sponsored health insurance are no doubt disappointed by Obama’s proposal, which takes this off the table. The so-called “public option” has been a sticking point for the Senate because members fear it will degrade the quality of health care in the country and cost the American taxpayers more than they can afford.
The stakes are increasingly high. Following last month’s special election in Massachusetts, Republicans now have the ability to filibuster a health care plan in the Senate. Meanwhile, Democrats could get support from the White House to push some provisions through in a process called budget reconciliation, which we told you about last weekend, whereby just 51 Senate votes are required for a passage, as opposed to the 60 required to break a filibuster.
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