Senate Panel Rejects Health Care Public Option
Plan would have provided options in Obama’s health insurance package
Sep 29, 2009
The amendements were authored by and Senator Charles Schumer of New York and Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia. Senator Rockefeller, a vocal proponent of the public option, had remarks for those who believe that adding a public option would have meant a “government takeover” of health insurance. “It’s optional. People can get into it, get out of it.”
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana said that, though he liked the idea of a public option, he didn’t believe it would get the necessary 60 votes on the Senate Floor.
Not the End of Public Option
Supporters of the public option still have shots at getting it into the final bill. The Senate Health Committee recently passed a bill which contains a public option. In addition, Senator Olympia Snowe from Maine has created an amendment that would allow a public option as an emergency option should insurance coverage remain too expensive.
The Baucus Bill
The Rockefeller and Schumer amendments were part of the Baucus Bill, unveiled by Senator Baucus on September 16, 2009, aimed at protecting the millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans. The Baucus Bill would set up insurance exchanges and provide federal subsidies to families that could not afford health care costs. A policy offered for sale in the insurance exchange must cover preventative and primary care as well as prescription drug, dental, vision and mental health services. Generally, consumer copays on preventive care would not be allowed.
The plan also calls for a tax on high-cost insurance plans, as well as fees and taxes on insurance and pharmaceutical companies and health care providers. People who refuse to buy coverage or large companies who refuse to offer coverage to their employees would be penalized.
Among controversial issues, illegal immigrants would not be allowed to purchase insurance from the insurance exchanges. Abortions could not be paid for with federal funds except in the cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.
Critics
The public option has been a hotly contested part of Obama’s health care plan, sparking numerous controversy among American citizens and causing near-riots in town meetings over the summer. Critics of the public option believe giving the government any control over health care will ultimately lead to the government completely taking over the nation’s health care system. Critics also question the amount of money the legislation will cost, already at hundreds of billions of dollars, and whether the country can afford it in the current economic climate.
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