Senate Healthcare Bill Is The 'Framework' For Further Reform, Says Key Democrat

By Meagan Wiseley - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) told reporters Tuesday that although the Senate healthcare bill may not contain a medicare expansion or a public option, she will vote for it.

Said Stabenow, "We’re in a legislative process where we have to bring everyone together and get the very best that we can, and then keep working.”

“This is about a framework...and that will change the debate going forward,” she added.

The Senator from Michigan advocated passing the healthcare bill rapidly so it can then be melded with the House bill and sent to the President's desk by the end of this year.

Sen. Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.) said during the press conference that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) currently does not have the 60 votes needed to pass the bill.

“The goal here is to get the job done...to get 60 votes so that we can proceed and overcome the actions of the Republicans, that’s what we’re going to continue to focus on,” Cardin said.

Stabenow and Cardin denied to comment on Sen. Joe Lieberman's (I-Conn.) refusal to support the bill if it included a medicare expansion provision.

Senate Democrats Praise Public Option Replacement, Hold Out Hope For Favorable CBO Score

By Julianne LaJeunesse - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

In a conference call hosted by the nonprofit group Families USA on Friday, Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). praised recent Democratic proposals to expand Medicare benefits to more people, and touted a hypothetical "Health Care Bill of Rights," which would result from passage of the latest Senate bill. The two also divulged hopes within their party that the bill will receive a positive scoring from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Both Democrats expressed confidence that, if nothing else, the Democratically-backed bill is conducive to reducing excess health costs.

“I think that under our oversight responsibilities, we need to carefully watch and make sure that these goals are achieved,” Whitehouse said of plans to cut medical costs in the United States. Whitehouse added that despite what the CBO scores reveal, the true impact of health industry reform, must be lived, not speculated.

“It’s hard to cost something that depends on executive initiative, which is an unknown factor,” he said. “We believe, I believe, essentially that all of the critical tools that are necessary to reform this health care system in a way that delivers better care, cheaper, are there to be used by the administration, and will be picked up by an administration, for whom, this is a critically high priority.”

The latest changes to the Senate plan, which were developed by a group of 10 Democratic senators, five moderate and five liberal, involve dropping the controversial "public option" insurance plan in favor of an expansion of Medicare and Medicaid; a proposal that has caused Republicans to raise doubts about its merit.

Said Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) earlier this week, expanding Medicare is like “putting people in a boat that’s already sinking.”

Senate Medicare Expansion Proposal 'Worth Consideration,' Says House Majority Leader

By Meagan Wiseley, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-M.D.) told reporters Tuesday that the proposed expansion of Medicare being discussed in the Senate is "an idea worth consideration."

"I think [Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid obviously is trying to get his caucus to a place where he can get 60 votes to pass a health reform bill," he said. "I congratulate him for the extraordinary Herculean efforts that he is making to bring 60 votes together to get something done in the Senate."

The expansion would allow individuals from the ages of 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare and would also create a non-profit funded healthcare plan for those who are not covered through their employers.

Hoyer also said Congress is currently working on job creation legislation, using left over TARP money for infrastructure projects and job creation. He said depending on the components of the bill, it could cost between $75 billion and $150 billion.

"100 billion, 150 billion, 75 billion, those are all figures that are being talked about, depending on what the component parts are," he said. "And I don't think anybody feels that this package will be the only package in terms of jobs that we'll look at over the next two or three months."