Bennet, Udall gearing up for health care debate
Ball’s in the Senate’s court now. After passing the House by a razor-thin margin last weekend, debate on the Senate’s version of an overhaul of America’s health care system may start next week.
With the change in venue comes a big change in tone from the legislators representing the Pikes Peak region. Unlike Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, Sens. Mark Udall and Michael Bennet, both Democrats, support a health care makeover.
Udall, Bennet and the other 98 senators will be considering Majority Leader Harry Reid’s amalgam of bills approved by the Senate Health Committee in September and the Finance Committee in October.
Details of that melange won’t become public till the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reports on its fiscal impact. And the timing is murky. A Reid aide said Thursday that members of his staff “hope to be able to move to consider” the bill next week, after the CBO report.
It’s shaping up as a free-for-all. “The responsibility for all of us is to improve the bill,” Bennet said Thursday from Denver.
Bennet, a member of the Senate Health Committee, said he and other senators are working on a package of amendments to reward quality over quantity of care, make data more accessible and promote healthy lifestyle choices like quitting smoking.
Much of the debate swirling around health care reform in recent months has centered on the “public option” -- a government-supervised health insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. Supporters say it would reduce insurance costs. Critics say it would lead to a government takeover of health insurance.
Unlike the House, where a simple majority is enough to pass legislation, most Senate bills require 60 votes. The Democrats control both Houses, but currently they can muster at most 61 Senate votes for a health care bill. So any defections could be critical.
Which is why Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat-turned-independent, grabbed headlines when he promised last week to filibuster any bill that includes a public option.
Udall said he saw “a way forward” that would keep Lieberman in the fold. “Many senators seemingly draw lines in the sand,” Udall said. “Sometimes those lines get moved.”
Interviewed Wednesday at the Broadmoor, where he spoke to the National Homeland Defense Foundation’s annual symposium, Udall said he wasn’t committed to any particular formulation.
“I’d like to see a public option,” Udall said, but added that he was open to compromises “in order to move forward and provide savings and save lives.”
Bennet was more guarded about how flexible he might be.
“I continue to believe a public option is an important part of doing the reform,” he said. Asked if half a loaf of health care reform could be better than none, he replied, “I think that it’s too early to tell what the compromises are going to be.”
Bennet said Congress needed to move quickly to end the months of uncertainty and misinformation about health care reform.
“No matter how much they (citizens) don’t like the status quo when it comes to health care, they’re deeply worried about our capacity to make it worse,” he said. “And until we actually have a bill that is completed and that the president is signing, everyone’s worst fears are going to be what we’re dealing with.”
—
Contact the writer at 476-1654
